ii 


Jin  iE^mnrtam 

ir.  Strljarii  3(.  (Entter 


Kev.    R.     J.^tter.    D. 


Stodi  iJ'-  LIlM'M*'y 


Santa  i'orLara,  Caiiluniia 


V 

Education 

and 

National  Character 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/educationnationaOOreliiala 


Education  and  National 
Character 


BY 

HENRY  CHURCHILL  KING 

FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 

LYMAN  ABBOTT 

WASHINGTON  GLADDEN 

AND  OTHERS 


^^^^^r-   California 
Santa  narbarc.  ^-^ 


CHICAGO 

:)UCA' 

1908 


THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


SANTA  BARBARA    CAL 


Copyright,  1908 

BY 

THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


"9/6  , 


St:^ 


-rri"  ^  ^ 


Ei)t  Hakrsttie  ^rrss 

R.  R.  DONNELLEY  &  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL. 

CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Enlarging  Ideals  in  Morals  and  Religion       -------       7 

Henry  Churchill  King,  D.  D,,  LL.  D. 
The  Universities  and  the  Social  Conscience       ------     n; 

Francis  Greenwood  Peabody,  D.  D. 
The   Significance   of   the   Present   Moral  Awakening  in    the 

Nation -----...27 

Lyman  Abbott,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Bringing  all  the  Moral  and  Religious  Forces  into  Effective  Edu- 
cational Unity      ------------..32 

Washington  Gladden,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
Religious  Education  of  the  Individual  for  Social  Life       -     -     -     43 

RuFUS  M.  Jones,  Litt.  D. 
Educating  Our  Youth  Away  from  Race  and  Religious  Prejudice     49 

Rabbi  David  Philipson,  D.  D. 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Moral  Life  of  the  Nation  -     -     -     -     60 

Rabbi  Moses  J.  Gries,  D.  D. 
Religious  Leadership  in  Social  Betterment  -------66 

George  B.  Stewart,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

The  Social   Settlement  and  the  Religious  Education  of  the 

People   -----------------75 

E.  Stagg  Whitin 
Social  Service,  by  College  Students,  for  Children  -----     84 

Milton  G.  Evans,  D.  D. 

The  Place  of  the  Religious  Education  Association  in  the  Life 

of  the  Nation  ..............     g^ 

George  Albert  Coe,  Ph.  D. 
Education  Through  Social  Service       .........     g2 

George  W.  Coleman 
The  Christian  Aspects  of  Personal  and  Community  Hygiene    -     99 

George  J.  Fisher,  M.  D. 
The  Moral  Training  of  the  New  Americans       -     -     -     -     -     -no 

Frederick  H.  Means 
The  University  and  the  Formation  of  Religious  and  Moral 

Ideals     --- 118 

Ismar  John  Peritz,  Ph.  D. 
The  Problem  of  Religious  Instruction  in  State  Universities     -  125 

Francis  W.  Kelsey 
Education  for  Christian  Citizenship)  *  -    1-     -------  150 

Jesse  H.  Holmes,  Ph.  D. 
The  Training  of  Ministers  and  Physicians  for  the  Negro  Race  -  157 

Wilbur  P.  Thirkield,  LL.  D. 
Religion  in  Public  School  Education  -------.-166 

Clyde  W.  Votaw,  Ph.  D. 

5 


6  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Moral  "fraining  Through  Patriotism 171 

Charles  W.  Williams 
Moral  Training  in  the  Schools  of  France 185 

George  E.  Myers,  Ph.  D. 
Methods  of  Moral  Training  in  the  Schools  of  Germany  -     -     -  197 

Amos  W.  Patton,  D.  D. 
Illustrated  Moral  Instruction 213 

Milton  Fairchild 
How  Can   Religion   Discharge  its    Function    in    the    Public 

Schools? 220 

Henry  P.  Cope 
The  Pastor  as  a  Teacher       ------------231 

Rev.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  D.  D. 
Religious  Psychology  and  Education  in  the  Theological  Cur- 
riculum --- -_.....--  240 

George  Albert  Coe,  Ph.  D. 
Why  College  Men  do  not  Go  into  the  Ministry      -     -     -     -     -  244 

Shailer  Mathews,  D.  D. 
Suggestions  for  a  Curriculum  for  Religious  Education  during 

Adolescence,  14  to  25  years     ----------251 

Clyde  W.  Votaw,  Ph.  D. 
The  Annual  Survey  of  Progress  in  Moral  and  Religious  Edu- 
cation   -----------------  266 

George  Hodges,  D.  D. 
Recent  Progress  in  the  Sunday  School  -     -     -     -     -     -     -278 

Franklin  D.  Elmer,  B.  D. 
The  Sunday  School  as  a  Social  Force      - 287 

George  Whitfield  Mead,  Ph.  D. 
Fraternal  Orders  and  Moral  Education   --------293 

Charles  A.  Barnes 
Fraternal  Education   ------- 297 

Joseph  B.  Burtt 
Minutes  of  the  Fifth  General  Convention     -------  303 

Officers  of  the  Religious  Education  Association     -     -     -     -     -  397 

Index        ------------------311 

NOTE 

The  Papers  in  this  Volume  were  Read  at 
THE  FIFTH  GENERAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 
Held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  February  11-13,  1908. 
These  papers  were  selected  from  the  large  number  presented  at 
this  Convention  as  being  those  most  directly  related  to  the  theme 
of  the  Convention,  "The  Relation  of  Moral  and  Religious  Education 
to  the  Life  of  the  Nation."  Other  papers  less  directly  related  to 
this  theme  and  treating  of  the  interests  and  work  of  the  Depart- 
ments of  the  Association  are  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, "Religious  Education." 


ENLARGING    IDEALS    IN    MORALS    AND    RE 
LIGION* 

HENRY  CHURCHILL  KING,  D.  D.,  L.L.  D. 

PRESIDENT   OBERLIN    COLLEGE,    ©BERLIN,   OHIO. 

The  Religious  Education  Association  was  bom  out 
of  a  profound  conviction,  on  the  part  of  many,  of  the 
national  need  of  a  deeper  and  steadily  deepening  moral 
and  religious  life,  if  the  nation  was  to  be  either  great  or 
permanent.  Lowell's  words,  spoken  at  the  250th 
Anniversary  of  Harvard  University,  might  have  been 
taken  as  the  Association's  motto :  "  The  measure  of  a 
nation's  true  success  is  the  amount  it  has  contributed 
to  the  thought,  the  moral  energy,  the  intellectual  hap- 
piness, the  spiritual  hope  and  consolation  of  mankind. 
There  is  no  other,  let  our  candidates  flatter  us  as  they 
may, "  To  this  ideal  of  the  national  greatness,  this 
Association  is  committed. 

Moved,  thus,  by  the  abiding  spiritual  convictions  of 
the  race,  and  seeking  the  cooperation  of  all  the  moral 
and  spiritual  forces  of  the  nation,  the  Association  faces 
our  national  need. 

For  we  need  a  nation  great  enough  to  rise  above  its 
own  lesser  achievements,  great  enough  to  conquer 
its  own  inner  dangers,  great  enough,  therefore,  to  face 
its  unavoidable  national  and  world  duties  in  the 
strength  of  a  great  faith,  a  great  hope,  and  great  ideals. 

In  a  degree  true  of  no  other  nation,  all  the  world  has 
come  to  us.  It  is  not  only  that  all  foreign  doors  are 
open  to  us,  but  that  all  foreign  nations  are  at  o\ir  own 
doors.  We  cannot  escape  our  problem;  it  is  forced 
upon  us.     The  question,  then,  is  not  merely  whether 

♦  The  President's  annual  address, 

7 


8     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

we  are  willing  to  share  our  life,  whether  we  are  willing 
to  give  ourselves ;  but  rather,  what  kind  of  life  are  we 
to  share  ?  what  kind  of  selves  are  we  to  give  ?  If,  there- 
fore, we  are  to  be  equal  to  our  inescapable  world-task, 
we  must  be  great  enough  to  rise  above  our  lesser 
achievements,  and  to  conquer  our  inner  dangers.  No 
merely  negative  method  can  possibly  be  adequate. 
Only  ideals  and  enterprises,  great  enough  and  spiritual 
enough  to  dominate  the  gigantic  material  interests  and 
ambitions  of  our  day  and  to  deliver  us  from  the  perils 
of  our  own  inner  spirit,  can  save  us  here.  Fundamen- 
tally, therefore,  our  national  need  is  a  religious  need. 

If,  now,  girded  with  the  hope  that  is  bom  of  the 
gi'eat  convictions  of  religion,  we  turn  to  think  of  the 
encouraging  growth  in  moral  and  religious  ideals,  in  the 
midst  of  which  we  even  now  are,  and  that  give  promise 
of  ability  to  meet  our  full  task  as  a  nation,  we  cannot 
better  express  all  that  this  significant  growth  implies, 
than  in  that  central  sentence  of  the  greatest  religious 
document  of  the  race,  in  which  the  Parliament  of 
Religions  was  able  to  unite,  and  which  brings  together 
all  religion  and  all  ethics,  all  ambitions  for  all  good: 
"  Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven :  Thy  will  be  done,  as 
in  heaven,  so  on  earth. "  For  a  three-fold  assumption 
plainly  underlies  this  petition,  and  each  assumption  is 
a  great  ground  of  hope ;  first,  that  there  is  a  heavenly 
Father,  of  character  like  Christ's  own ;  second,  that  there 
is  a  heavenly  life  in  which  God's  will  is  already  perfectly 
done ;  third,  that  God's  will  is  pledged  to  a  like  heavenly 
life  here  on  earth.  God's  will,  that  is,  backs  up  with 
its  infinite  resources  every  such  petition,  and  every 
corresponding  endeavor.  And  the  religious  aim  must 
seek  the  reign  of  God  in  the  individual  and  social  life 
of  all  God's  children,  in  heaven  and  on  earth  — the 
bringing  of  heaven  to  earth,  and  the  training  on  earth 
for  the  great  goals  of  the  heavenly  life. 


ENLARGING  IDEALS  9 

For  this  single  prayer  that  humanity  needs  to  make 
at  once  confronts  and  challenges  and  transcends  all 
those  wavering  and  inadequate  conceptions  of  the  re- 
ligious life  that  have  marked  the  progress  of  the  cen- 
turies, and  indicates  the  trend  of  our  growing  religious 
,  \  ideals  which  are  at  the  same  time  moral  ideals.  For, 
in  briefest  contrast,  it  means  that  religion  is  no  mere 
matter  of  ceremony;  no  merely  beautiful  thing  for 
aesthetic  admiration ;  no  mere  seeking  of  mystical  ex- 
periences ;  no  mere  practise  of  ascetic  self-mortification ; 
no  mere  idle  longing  for  heaven,  or  an  awaiting  of  some 
miraculous  deliverance  from  heaven ;  no  bare  adoption 
either,  of  abstract  principles ;  nor  anything  arbitrary 
laid  upon  man  from  without,  external  and  foreign  to 
him ;  no  mere  negative  aim  of  any  kind ;  but  that  posi- 
tive will  of  God,  laid  down  in  the  very  structure  of  our 
being  that  means  the  kindling  of  great  new  enthusiasms, 
great  devotions,  and  great  causes. 

The  prayer,  "Thy  will  be  done,"  is,  then,  no  cring- 
ing cry ;  it  is  no  slave's  submission  to  superior  strength ; 
it  is  no  plaintive  wail ;  it  is  no  outcry  of  an  enfeebled, 
broken  will,  as  we  may  be  sometimes  tempted  to  think. 
Rather  is  it  the  highest  reach  of  a  will  superbly  disci- 
V.  plined  to  a  world's  task,  enlightened  by  a  reason  that 
,  can  think  the  thoughts  of  God,  inspired  by  an  imagina- 
tion that  sees  the  ultimate  consummation,  warmed  by  a 
heart  that  feels  the  needs  of  men  and  glows  with  the 
greatness  of  the  Father's  purpose  for  them. 

In  exact  line,  now,  as  it  seems  to  me,  with  Christ's 
own  thought,  we  men  of  the  modern  time  must  enlarge 
and  deepen  our  conception  of  the  will  of  God,  if  our  moral 
and  religious  ideals  are  to  continue  to  grow  and  to 
meet  the  real  demands  of  our  day.  For  certain  great 
convictions  have  been  forcing  themselves  in  upon  the 
minds  of  men  in  this  modem  age. 

We  live  in  a  world  enlarged  for  our  thought  quite 


lo    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

beyond  the  possibility  of  conception  by  earlier  ages; 
enlarged  in  the  infinite  spaces  of  the  revelations  of 
astronomy;  enlarged  in  the  mighty  reaches  of  time, 
measured  not  only  by  geological,  but  by  physical  re- 
search ;  enlarged  in  perception  of  inner,  endless  energy, 
microscopic  as  well  as  telescopic,  and  compelling  our 
admission  even  far  beyond  all  possibility  of  vision. 
We  find  ourselves,  not  less,  in  a  vastly  larger  social 
environment  —  wide  as  the  earth,  every  part  of  it  trib- 
utary to  every  other,  every  part  sharing  in  the  life  of 
every  other.  There  can  be  finally  no  exclusions.  A 
man  cannot  help  asking  himself  in  such  a  world,  "  Is 
thy  God  adequate  to  this  enlarged  imiverse?" 

And  we  live  in  a  unified  world ;  unified,  too,  beyond 
all  possible  earlier  conception;  unified  in  the  thought 
of  the  universal  forces  of  gravity  and  magnetism ;  uni- 
fied in  the  principle  of  the  conservation  of  energy ;  —  a 
world  that  acts  as  one  world,  as  though  permeated 
with  one  will.  It  is  so  permeated.  For  our  time,  as 
for  no  other,  the  thought  of  unity  dominates.  The 
world  is  one,  past  our  denial.  Man  is  one,  in  spite  of 
his  seeming  duality.  Man  and  the  world  are  akin, 
and  man  is  the  microcosmos  in  a  deeper  sense  than 
the  old  Greek  philosopher  could  guess.  Man  and  man 
are  one  in  great  central  likenesses,  back  of  all  racial 
differences.  And  man  and  God,  too,  are  akin;  and 
our  key  to  the  tmderstanding  of  God  is  to  be  found 
within,  not  without.  No  age  so  certainly  as  ours 
shoiild  be  able  to  say  of  man,  with  the  Psalmist, 
"Thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than  God,  and 
crownest  him  with  glory  and  honor."  Is  thy  God 
adequate  to  this  unified  world? 

And  whatever  changes  come  in  the  great  concep- 
tion of  evolution,  mankind  will  never  escape  again 
from  the  idea  of  an  evolving  world.  Physics,  biology, 
embryology,  psychology,  sociology,  make  it  impossible 


ENLARGING   IDEALS  ii 

for  us  to  forget  that  man  is,  in  sorrie  real  sense,  the 
goal  of  the  whole  physical  universe,  containing  within 
himself  the  promise  of  endless  progress.  And  men 
have  dared  to  dream  that,  in  this  evolution,  physical, 
individual,  and  social,  they  could  even  catch  the  trend 
of  the  ages,  the  direction  of  the  mighty  ongoing  of 
God's  purposes.  Is  thy  God  adequate  to  this  evolv- 
ing world  ? 

And  once  more,  with  the  emphasis  of  the  whole  of 
modem  science  on  the  conception  of  law,  men  look  in 
upon  themselves  and  out  upon  the  universe  with  other 
eyes;  for  the  perception  of  law  means  discernment  of 
the  ways  of  the  universe,  means,  therefore,  insight  into 
its  secrets,  and  power  to  use  its  exhaustless  energies. 
It  means  insight  into  economic  and  social  law,  into 
laws  of  personal  relations,  into  the  modes  of  activity 
of  God  himself.  The  idea  of  law  brings,  thus,  the 
glorious  promise  of  world-mastery  and  self-mastery, 
of  conquest  of  our  highest  ideals  —  hope  hitherto  tm- 
imagined.  Is  thy  God  adequate  to  this  great  world 
of  law  ? 

We  men  of  the  modem  time,  who  live  in  this  en- 
larged world,  in  this  unified  world,  in  this  evolving 
world,  in  this  law-abiding  world,  are  forced,  thus,  to  en- 
large our  conception  of  God  and  of  his  will,  if  we  have  not 
already  done  so,  to  match  this  greater  vision  of  the 
world  and  of  men ;  for  we  shall  not  long  believe  in  a 
God  who  is  not  greater  than  his  world. 

And  when  we  think  of  the  enlarged  world  of  our 
time,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  make  the  measure  of  the 
will  of  God  petty  projects  of  any  kind  or  order. 
Here  is  reason  for  hope. 

And  when  we  think  of  the  unified  world  so  necessary 
to  our  modem  thought,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  doubt 
that  the  will  of  God  cannot  be  shut  up  to  small  frag- 
ments of  life  or  to  small  fragments  of  the  race,  but 


12     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

must  be  inclusive  of  all  goods  and  of  all  men,  and  con- 
sistent throughout.     Here  is  reason  for  hope. 

When  we  think  of  the  mighty  evolving  world,  in 
the  midst  of  which  we  see  ourselves  placed,  we  cannot 
but  believe  that  the  will  of  God  is  in  it,  working  out 
great  purposes  that  we  can  at  least  dimly  discern,  and 
in  which,  intelligently  and  triumphantly,  we  may 
share.     Here  again  is  hope. 

And  when  we  think  of  the  will  of  God,  laid  down  in 
the  laws  of  nature  and  of  human  nature,  we  find  it  no 
longer  possible  to  think  of  him  as  mere  on-looker  in  the 
drama  of  life ;  for  he  is  sharing  in  our  very  life,  and  we 
in  his.  For,  in  another's  words,  "Even  the  agony  of 
the  world's  struggle  is  the  very  life  of  God.  Were  he 
mere  spectator,  perhaps  he  too  would  call  life  cruel. 
But,  in  the  unity  of  our  lives  with  his,  our  joy  is  his 
joy,  our  pain  is  his. "  Here,  too,  is  hope,  great  and 
abiding. 

Under  these  convictions,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
the  ambitions  of  men  to-day  have  taken  on  a  titanic 
quality  that  he  must  be  quite  blind  who  does  not  see  — 
financial  and  economic  enterprises,  world-wide  in  their 
out-reach;  social  projects  and  the  pursuit  of  social 
ideals  that  concern  not  one  nation  alone,  but  all  na- 
tions, and  that  go  deep  down  into  the  heart  of  all 
living;  missionary  movements  that,  in  their  very  na- 
ture, cannot  be  carried  out  without  affecting  the  en- 
tire personal  and  social  life  of  every  race  touched 
thereby,  and  changing  the  very  face  of  nature. 

Every  profession  is  sharing  in  this  enlarged  vision 
of  positive  achievement.  The  physician  has  begun  to 
dream  of  a  race  physically  redeemed,  through  the 
triumphs  of  preventive,  not  merely  remedial,  medicine. 
The  lawyer  is  beginning  to  think  he  need  be  no 
mere  attorney,  but  a  servant  of  the  public  weal,  put 
in  trust  with  the  great  heritage  of  law.     The  extent 


ENLARGING   IDEALS  13 

to  which  various  caUings  are  already  holding  their 
members,  at  certain  points  at  least,  to  the  full  sweep  of 
Christ's  severest  requirements  —  to  hate  one's  life,  to 
lose  one's  life  to  save  it  —  is  enough  to  send  the  blood 
tingling  anew  with  hope  through  the  arteries  of  this 
gray  old  world  of  ours.  The  physician,  who  recog- 
nizes that  in  his  profession  he  has  a  trust  from  society 
and  from  God,  and  that  he  may  not  leave  the  plague- 
stricken  town  to  save  his  own  life ;  the  locomotive  en- 
gineer, or  the  ship  captain,  who  knows  that  he  must 
face  his  own  endless  self -contempt,  as  well  as  the  con- 
tempt of  his  fellows,  if  he  deserts  his  post,  while  service 
can  be  rendered  —  these  are  but  examples  of  standards 
that  are  being  rapidly  extended  to  all  callings,  and  to 
all  points  in  all  callings. 

We  seem  to  ourselves  to  be  just  awaking  out  of  sleep, 
and  out  of  dull  lassitude  of  will.  Now  we  see  what 
life  means.  We  live  in  an  infinite  world,  and  in  that 
world  we  have  our  part  to  play.  We  live  in  a  unified 
world,  and,  just  on  that  account,  we  may  work  effects 
wide  as  the  universe  of  God.  We  live  in  an  evolving 
world,  the  direction  of  whose  progress  is  not  wholly 
hidden  from  us;  and  into  the  very  plans  of  God, 
therefore,  it  is  given  us  to  enter.  We  live  in  a  law- 
abiding  world,  in  which  God  himself  is  immanent; 
and  he  works  in  us,  both  to  will  and  to  work  of  his  own 
good  pleasure.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  ambitions 
of  men  of  the  present  day,  when  seen  thus  in  the  large, 
seem  to  dwarf  all  previous  aims  of  common  men  ? 
We  build  again,  and  with  eager  hope,  our  heaven- 
scaling  tower,  but  on  foundations  laid  by  God  himself ; 
and  the  confused  tongues  give  promise  of  changing 
into  a  higher  harmony  in  the  unity  of  the  will  of 
God. 

Now,  one  cannot  so  see  these  mightily  enlarged 
ambitions  of  men  without  a  great  deepening  of  this 


14    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

always  sufficient  prayer,  "Thy  will  be  done,  as  in 
heaven,  so  on  earth." 

But,  in  order  that  into  that  prayer  we  may  put 
ourselves  with  confidence  and  hope,  there  must  under- 
lie it  that  three-fold  assumption  of  Christ,  of  the  per- 
sonal will  of  the  heavenly  Father,  of  the  heavenl}'^ 
life,  and  of  the  will  of  God  pledged  to  the  bringing  of 
heaven  to  earth.  For  only  he  can  see  thus  greatly 
his  own  ambitions,  who  is  able  to  gird  and  undergird 
his  own  will  by  faith  in  the  eternal  and  all-sufficient 
will  of  God.  He  must  know  he  attempts  no  hopeless 
task.  And  the  more  nearly  men  approach  that  ration- 
al, ethical  democracy,  which  seems  to  be  the  goal  of  all 
our  earthly  endeavor,  the  more  clearly  will  they  see, 
in  Nash's  words,  that  "every  form  of  polity  lays  a 
certain  tax  upon  the  will.  But  democracy  lays  the 
heaviest  tax  of  all.  The  vital  relationships  into  which 
the  individual  should  enter  are  far  more  numerous 
than  under  any  other  form.  And  with  each  one  of 
them  he  must  go  deeper.  So  the  tax  levied  upon  the 
earnest  will  is  exceeding  heavy.  It  cannot  be  paid, 
year  in,  year  out,  and  paid  with  increasing  gladness, 
unless  the  individual  be  assured  that  the  resources  of 
eternal  good  are  at  his  back.  And  this  certitude 
only  possesses  and  pervades  him  when  he  has  been 
made  whole  by  trust." 

He  who  has  come  into  this  mighty  faith  of  Christ's 
in  the  eternal  personal  will  of  the  Father,  is  evermore 
capable  of  mighty  convictions,  mighty  surrenders, 
mighty  endeavors.  And  in  this  identification  of  his 
purposes  with  God's  eternal  purpose,  it  must  seem 
to  him  that  he  catches  a  glorious  vision  of  sons  of 
Grod,  come  for  the  first  time  into  their  heritage. 

Thus  conceived,  the  ideals  and  ambitions  of  our 
time  are  so  great,  that  they  not  only  are  not  opposed  to 
the  thought  of  the  heavenly  life,  but  rather  culminate 


UNIVERSITIES   AND   SOCIAL  CONSCIENCE     15 

naturally  only  in  the  immortal  hope.  Surely,  he  who 
dares  so  much  may  well  venture  more.  Dare  to  believe 
in  the  splendor  of  the  plans  of  God.  Doubt  not,  as 
Browning  suggests  in  his  "  Easter-Day, "  that  far  be- 
yond all  the  exhaustless  beauty  of  nature,  past  all  the 
wealth  of  art,  past  all  the  reach  of  "  circling  sciences, 
philosophies,  and  histories,"  past  even  all  tender 
ministries  of  human  love,  stretches  the  reach  of  the 
will  of  God.  These  all  are  but  the  glories  of  "the 
earth,  God's  antechamber." 

"The  wise,  who  waited  there,  could  tell 
By  these,  what  royalties  in  store 
Lay  one  step  past  the  entrance  door." 


THE   UNIVERSITIES   AND  THE  SOCIAL 
CONSCIENCE 

FRANCIS  G.  PEABODY,  D.  D.* 

PROFESSOR   HARVARD   UNIVERSITY,    CAMBRIDGE,    MASS. 

The  most  characteristic  and  significant  discovery  of 
the  present  age  is  the  discovery  of  the  social  conscience 
—  the  recognition,  in  a  degree  unprecedented  in 
history,  of  social  responsibility;  the  demand,  with  an 
unprecedented  imperativeness,  for  social  justice; 
the  substitution,  on  an  unprecedented  scale,  of  social 
morality  for  the  creed  of  individualism.  Never  in 
human  history  were  so  many  people,  rich  and  poor, 
learned  and  ignorant,  wise  and  otherwise,  concerning 
themselves  with  social  amelioration,  dedicating 
themselves  to  philanthropy,  organizing  for  industrial 
change,  or  applying  the  motives  of  religion  to  the 
problems  of  modem  life.  It  is  the  age  of  the  Social 
Question.  A  new  phrase,  the  Social  Organism,  be- 
comes   the    description    of    human    society.     A   new 

♦President,  1908,  The  Religious  Education  Association. 


i6     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

significance  is  found  in  the  great  affirmation  of  St. 
Paul,  "  We  are  members  one  of  another. "  A  new 
force  is  recognized  in  Aristotle's  saying,  "  Unus  homo, 
nullus  homo.  "  The  single  life  has  become  uninterpret- 
able  except  in  its  relation  to  the  life  of  others.  The 
economics  of  laissez  faire  is  displaced  by  the  economics 
of  combination ;  the  ethics  of  self  culture  is  succeeded 
by  the  ethics  of  social  service ;  and  religion,  instead  of 
setting  itself  to  save  the  person  out  of  the  wreck  of  a 
lost  world,  summons  the  person  to  bring  the  world 
itself,  like  a  still  seaworthy  vessel,  safe  to  its  port. 
The  world,  as  a  book  which  was  among  the  first  signs 
of  the  new  spirit  affirms  in  its  title,  "is  the  object  of 
redemption."  "A  single  life,"  Professor  Wallace 
has  said,  "may  find  salvation  for  itself,  but  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  such  salvation  is  worth  the  trouble. 
It  is  a  transition  in  human  history  which  can  be  com- 
pared with  nothing  less  than  the  transition  from  the 
astronomy  of  Ptolemy  to  the  astronomy  of  Copernicus. 
Instead  of  a  center  of  interest  fixed  in  the  individual 
life,  roimd  which,  as  a  satellite,  the  social  order  moves, 
the  problem  of  the  individual  is  now  seen  to  lie  within 
a  vastly  greater  system,  to  whose  laws  its  orbit  must 
conform,  and  as  a  part  of  which  his  own  life  must  be 
fulfilled.  How  to  adjust  one's  personal  aims  within 
the  organism  of  the  common  good ;  how  to  realize  one's 
self  as  a  member  of  the  social  body ;  how  to  secure  the 
stability  of  the  social  order  by  the  co-operative  conse- 
cration of  the  individual  —  that  is  the  essence  of  the 
modem  social  question,  and  it  delivers  one  from  the 
Ptolemaic  ethics  of  self -centered  morality  and  sets  one 
in  a  Copemican  universe  of  social  unity  and  service. 
It  is  not  only  a  new  social  science,  but  a  new  social 
imperative ;  not  a  social  consciousness,  but  a  social  con- 
science ;  a  categorical  summons  to  the  person  to  fulfill 
his  function  within  the  social  whole. 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SOCIAL  CONSCIENCE     17 


THE    CLAIM    OF    ALL    ON    EACH 

If,  then,  this  sense  of  social  responsibility  marks 
so  unmistakably  the  thought  and  conduct  of  the 
present  age;  if  the  problems  most  immediately  press- 
ing upon  civilization  are  the  social  problems  of  the  fami- 
ly, the?' state,  the  industrial  order,  and  the  church ;  if  we 
must  thus  think  of  people  as  living  together,  working 
together,  and  determining  their  duty  within  the  organ- 
ism of  the  common  good ;  then  it  becomes  of  peculiar 
interest  to  observe  how  far  this  transition  in  thought 
has  proceeded,  and  at  what  point  in  its  evolution  the 
social  conscience  has  arrived.  What  form  of  re- 
enforcement  is  for  the  moment  most  important  in 
this  world-wide  movement  of  social  service?  What 
new  demand  does  this  development  of  social  sensi- 
tiveness make  upon  the  present  age?  The  answer 
to  these  questions  appears  to  be  plain.  The  age  of 
the  social  question  has  brought  with  it  a  vast  expan- 
sion of  certain  sentiments  which  are  among  the  most 
precious  of  human  possessions,  and  which  give  to  the 
present  time  a  peculiar  dignity  and  promise.  Com- 
passion, fraternity,  generosity,  loyalty,  the  passion 
for  justice,  the  demand  for  conditions  consistent  with 
decency  and  self-respect  —  all  these  effects  of  the  social 
conscience  are  operating  with  imprecedented  force. 
Never  was  there  such  a  generous  giving,  such  willing 
enlistment  in  philanthropy,  such  varied  legislation 
for  social  reform.  If  the  better  world  could  come 
through  expenditure  of  money  or  time,  through  legis- 
lation or  organization,  through  prodigal  charity  or 
loyal  trade-unionism  or  militant  socialism,  then  the 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  dedicated  to  these  ends 
would  have  their  immediate  reward. 

The  heart  of  the  time  is  soft ;  the  conscience  of  the 
time  is  quick.     The  social  question  will  not  be  settled 


i8     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

until  somehow  each  life,  however  helpless  or  inefficient 
it  may  be,  finds  its  appropriate  place  in  the  vast  organ- 
ism of  social  efficiency. 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    SOCIAL    FORCES 

And  yet  while  this  expansion  of  social  feeling  may 
be  viewed  with  much  satisfaction  as  a  definite  step 
in  the  moral  education  of  the  human  race,  the  time 
has  plainly  come  when  the  new  movement  of  altruism 
is  in  special  need  of  direction  and  control.  It  is  like 
an  electric  current  of  high  power,  which  has  in  it  ex- 
traordinary capacity  for  social  utility,  but  at  the  same 
time  carries  extraordinary  risk.  The  first  problem  of  the 
engineer  is  to  develop  such  a  current,  but  his  next  and 
not  less  essential  problem  is  to  safeguard  and  govern  it. 
An  unregulated  supply  of  power  may  not  only  bring 
disaster  to  the  imwary  passer-by,  but  may  even  wreck 
the  mechanism  designed  for  its  transmission.  A 
new  force  of  enthusiasm  and  responsibility  is  let  loose 
in  the  modem  world,  and  in  any  enterprise  of  social 
service  one  may  count  on  a  high-power  current  of 
generous  emotion.  Is  this  force,  however,  sufficiently 
insulated  and  safely  distributed?  Is  social  energy 
safeguarded  by  social  wisdom  ?  Is  the  social  conscience 
of  the  time,  what  the  Apostle  Paul  described  as  a 
"good conscience, "  as  though  duty  could  not  be  trusted 
until  it  was  trained  ?  No  thoughtful  observer  can  fail 
to  see  that  the  social  question  of  the  present  time  has 
just  reached  the  point  where  emotional  power  needs 
a  new  degree  of  intellectual  direction  and  disciplined 
control. 

The  administration  of  charity,  for  example,  has 
passed  beyond  its  sentimental  period,  and  in  the  com- 
plex life  of  our  great  cities  the  call  for  sympathy  is 
succeeded  by  the  call  for  expert  knowledge.     Senti- 


UNIVERSITIES  AND   SOCIAL   CONSCIENCE     19 

mentalism  in  relief  may  easily  propagate  more  poverty 
than  it  cures;  scientific  relief  has  set  before  it  the 
much  more  difficult  problem  of  harnessing  the  forces 
of  compassion  within  the  mechanism  of  economic  laws, 
so  as  to  make  sympathy  effective  and  pity  wise. 
Labor  organization  has  had  dramatic  success  in  pro- 
moting loyalty  and  sacrifices,  but  now  that  it  has  be- 
come an  economic  force  of  high  power,  the  time  has 
arrived  to  determine  whether  its  reckless  use  shall  be- 
come a  social  menace,  or  its  scientific  insulation  a 
social  service.  Employers,  whether  individuals  or 
corporations,  seem,  with  many  splendid  exceptions,  to 
have  been  taken  by  surprise  in  the  new  industrial  con- 
flict, and  meet  the  strategy  of  a  more  highly  organized 
world,  sometimes  with  precepitate  surrender,  some- 
times with  crude  defenses,  and  often  with  sheer  stu- 
pidity. And  what  a  portentous  series  of  hasty  exper- 
iments we  are  making  with  all  manner  of  legislation 
concerning  the  family,  the  drink-traffic,  child-labor, 
im-employment,  universal  pensions,  and  a  hundred 
other  propositions  of  the  time!  What  is  there  heard 
in  all  these  well-intended  enterprises  but  a  call  for 
leadership,  a  demand  for  experts,  the  necessity  that 
sympathy  should  equip  itself  with  wisdom?  Not  less 
of  heart  is  needed  to  meet  the  increased  complexity 
of  social  life,  but  more  of  head;  not  less  sentiment, 
but  more  science ;  not  less  passion,  but  more  patience. 
The  social  forces  of  the  time  have  it  in  their  power  to 
wreck  the  very  framework  of  American  democracy, 
unless  they  be  directed  by  disciplined  minds. 


THE    CALL    FOR    LEADERSHIP 

"The  great  problem  of  free  organization,"  wrote 
John  Stuart  Mill,  in  a  paper  only  this  year  made  public, 
"is  the  art  of  choosing  leaders,  with  superior  wisdom, 


20    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

absence  of  egotism,  truthf illness  and  moral  sympathy." 
No  more  timely  words  could  be  spoken  in  the  critical 
issues  of  industrial  and  political  life  which  now  con- 
front us.  The  modem  social  question  cannot  be 
fought  through,  or  crowded  through,  or  blundered 
through ;  it  must  be  thought  through.  What  was  said 
by  Marx  of  Socialism  is  true  of  the  social  question, 
"The  reformation  was  the  work  of  a  monk;  the  revo- 
lution must  be  the  work  of  a  philosopher."  Organ- 
ization, machinery,  legislation,  social  programs  are 
essential  to  the  progress  of  the  social  question ;  but  the 
solution  of  that  question  waits  for  a  supply  of  the 
wisdom  which  is  without  egotism,  and  the  truthfulness 
which  maintains  its  sympathy. 

There  is  a  further  aspect  of  the  same  demand  of 
the  present  time.  The  social  question  needs  not  only 
a  science,  but  a  philosophy.  It  must  be  not  only  ap- 
proached by  the  scientific  habit  of  mind,  but  it  must 
be  defined  as  a  movement  of  ethical  idealism.  On 
its  face  the  present  agitation  is  an  economic  question, 
concerned  with  conditions  of  life  and  industry,  with 
food  and  drink,  housing  and  rent,  wages  and  hours, 
work  and  leisure;  and  many  observers  of  the  time 
have  concluded  that  the  key  of  the  social  question  is 
to  be  found  in  some  form  of  economic  change.  Shorten 
the  hours  of  labor,  they  say,  increase  the  wage,  guar- 
antee employment,  insure  against  the  risks  of  life,  lift 
the  level  of  earning  farther  from  the  margin  of  want, 
and  the  social  question  is  answered  and  social  peace 
attained.  The  socialist  propaganda  gives  to  this  view 
of  progress  the  dignity  of  a  philosophy.  All  social 
change  is  at  bottom  economic  change.  The  institu- 
tions, morality,  and  religion  of  any  age  are  products 
of  its  economic  conditions.  "Tell  me  how  you 
get  what  you  eat,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  you  are." 
The   consistent   socialist,   therefore,    declines   all   en- 


UNIVERSITIES  AND   SOCIAL  CONSCIENCE     21 

tangling  alliances  with  other  forms  of  social  ameliora- 
tion, and  devotes  himself  wholly  to  economic  revolu- 
tion, with  the  assurance  that  the  new  industrial  order 
will  bring  with  it  a  new  human  nature  to  enjoy  it. 


THE    NEW    NOTE    IN    THE    SOCIAL    MOVEMENT 

This  economic  interpretation  of  history  is,  no  doubt, 
encouraged  by  many  facts,  and  it  would  be  sheer 
sentimentalism  to  ignore  the  restorative  effects  of 
improved  industrial  conditions.  But  to  see  in  the 
social  question  nothing  more  than  an  economic  pro- 
gram is  to  miss  the  very  note  which  gives  pathos  and 
poignancy  to  the  present  agitation.  The  social  question 
is  not  most  active  where  economic  conditions  are  at 
their  worst,  or  most  tranquil  where  wages  are  highest, 
but  on  the  contrary  becomes  most  critical  in  those 
countries  where  production  is  most  abiindant  and  the 
conditions  of  the  wage -earners  most  hopeful  —  in 
Germany,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  The 
social  question,  in  other  words,  is  not  a  sign  of  economic 
decadence,  but  of  economic  progress.  It  meets  a 
people,  not  on  their  way  down,  but  on  their  way  up. 
It  comes  not  of  having  less,  but  of  wanting  more.  It 
accompanies  not  decrease  of  possessions,  but  increase  of 
desires.  In  other  words,  though  it  utters  itself  in  the 
language  of  economic  life,  it  proceeds  from  motives 
which  lie  much  deeper  in  human  life  than  the  demand 
for  a  redistribution  of  wealth.  What  is  this  new 
note  which  is  heard  in  the  social  movement,  and  which 
draws  to  its  service  the  mind  of  the  present  age?  It 
is  the  note  of  duty ;  the  demand  for  justice,  opportunity, 
the  humanization  of  life.  Very  harsh  and  discordant 
are  many  of  the  voices  which  utter  this  cry  of  the  time, 
but  it  is  precisely  in  detecting  beneath  the  bitterness, 
unreasonableness  and  incoherence  of  the  social  pro- 


2  3     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

test,  this  underlying  tone  of  moral  obligation  and  de- 
sire, that  the  capacity  to  meet  the  issue  is  to  be  found. 
In  short,  the  social  question  is  at  the  bottom  an 
ethical  question,  whose  interior  nature  must  be  inter- 
preted in  terms  of  morals,  and  whose  appeal  is  finally 
made  to  the  .social  conscience.  At  this  point  the 
science  of  the  social  question  passes  into  its  philosophy. 
It  is  not  only  true  that  the  need  of  the  time  is  for  more 
competent  leadership,  but  it  is  also  true  that  this  lead- 
ership must  be  equipped  with  an  ethical  idealism,  and 
trained  in  the  faith  that  such  ethical  idealism  is  the 
key,  alike  of  a  sound  philosophy  and  of  a  stable  social 
world.  The  next  step  in  social  progress  must  be  taken 
by  men  who  shall  combine  the  scientific  habit  of  mind 
with  the  idealist's  direction  of  the  will.  Social  schemes 
must  be  made  the  servants  of  the  social  conscience. 
Social  wisdom  rests  on  social  philosophy.  "Where 
there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish."  The  fountains 
of  healing  for  the  social  evils  of  the  time  spring  where 
streams^of  science  and  idealism  meet. 


HIGHER    EDUCATION    AND    THE    SOCIAL    MOVEMENT 

And  where,  then,  are  we  to  look  for  this  new  con- 
tribution of  social  science  and  social  ethics  to  give 
direction  to  the  social  conscience?  Many  sources 
of  social  sanity  must  be  recognized  and  utilized, 
but  it  becomes  evident  that  the  new  demand  provides 
a  new  opportunity  for  the  higher  education.  A  uni- 
versity, if  it  fiilfills  in  any  degree  its  function,  is 
likely  to  have  at  least  these  two  kinds  of  influences  on 
the  plastic  life  of  youth.  In  the  first  place,  it  should 
train  the  scientific  spirit  into  an  instinct  of  the  intel- 
lectual life.  It  should  teach  the  growing  mind  from 
the  entangling  interests  of  practical  affairs,  and  permit 
a  view  of  things  which  has  perspective,  horizon,  equa- 


UNIVERSITIES  AND   SOCIAL  CONSCIENCE     23 

nimity  and  grasp.  Matthew  Arnold  said  of  Sophocles 
that  he  saw  things  steadily  and  saw  them  whole.  That 
is  the  best  lesson  that  can  be  taught  by  an  academic 
teacher  —  the  capacity  to  look  on  the  facts  of  life  not 
excitedly  and  passionately,  but  sanely  and  steadily, 
and  to  see  them,  not  as  fragments,  but  as  parts  of  a 
comprehensive  whole.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  aca- 
demic people  are  theorists,  and  that  what  is  needed  to- 
day is  practical  men.  But  what  is  it  to  theorize,  and 
what  is  the  relation  of  theory  to  practice  ?  Theory,  in 
its  Greek  significance,  is  the  capacity  for  vision;  the 
seeing  things  as  they  are ;  the  survey  of  truth  with  a 
large  horizon.  And  what  is  there  so  much  needed  in 
a  practical  age  as  this  kind  of  theorists?  Doers  we 
have  in  plenty ;  but  few  seers.  Action  is  eager  enough ; 
but  where  is  vision  ?  Views  there  are  in  abundance ;  but 
where  are  the  leaders  who  have  a  view  of  life,  its  mo- 
tives and  aims,  its  incidents  and  'enterprises,  seen  from 
the  height  of  scientific  detachment  and  judicious 
temper?  These  are  the  products  of  liberal  education, 
the  training  which  liberates  from  things  and  finds  the 
truth  which  makes  men  free. 

In  the  second  place,  the  centers  of  the  higher  learn- 
ing share  with  the  institutions  of  religious  worship  the 
supreme  function  of  representing  in  national  life  a 
faith  in  ethical  idealism.  Education,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, has  been  much  modified  by  the  practical  de- 
mands of  the  modem  world ;  but  it  still  remains  true 
that  our  colleges  and  universities  provide  a  natural 
atmosphere  for  the  idealist's  vision  and  hope.  "A 
university,"  one  of  the  most  honored  of  American 
scholars  has  said,  "is  a  home  of  idealism;  if  it  were 
not  that,  it  would  be  better  that  its  walls  should 
crumble  in  a  night."  In  a  worthy  place  of  learning 
meet  the  two  factors  of  this  faith  in  the  eternal.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  great  masters  of  thought,  the  great 


24    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

ideas  of  the  reason,  the  universal  laws  of  science,  the 
perennial  persuasion  of  art,  invite  the  mind  beyond 
the  fragmentary  and  temporary  to  see  things  steadily 
and  see  them  whole;  and  on  the  other,  there  looks 
up  to  these  heights  of  the  ideal  the  iinspoiled  life  of 
youth,  not  yet  bent  down  by  the  tasks  of  life,  but  erect 
and  responsive,  with  the  "rays  of  dawn  on  their  white 
shields  of  expectation. "  These  are  our  natural  ideal- 
ists. The  vision  splendid  has  not  yet  faded  into  the 
light  of  common  day.  The  character  of  youth  is  not 
yet  hardened  by  the  rub  of  life,  or  subdued  to  that  it 
works  in,  like  the  dyers'  hand.  Young  people,  among 
the  influences  of  academic  life,  have  their  own  faults, 
of  thoughtfulness  and  recklessness ;  but  they  have  not 
yet  been  smitten  with  the  maladies  of  the  worldly-wise, 
with  hopelessness,  loss  of  vision,  the  atrophy  of  sensi- 
bility, and  the  scorn  of  idealism.  The  spirit  of  educa- 
ted youth  looks  upon  the  world  as  fluid  and  malleable 
like  a  stream  of  molten  metal,  flowing  to  the  mold 
which  the  artist  has  designed.  A  liberal  education 
has  failed  of  its  main  intention  if  it  does  not  prolong 
and  justify  the  natural  idealism  of  healthy-minded 
youth. 

A    NEW    PROFESSION 

At  this  point,  then,  the  universities  and  the  social 
conscience  meet.  By  one  of  the  most  interesting 
transitions  in  the  history  of  education  the  academic 
life  has  made  a  new  connection  with  the  modem  world. 
Instead  of  being  sidetracked  in  scholasticism  and 
dilettantism,  the  higher  education  in  science  and  in 
philosophy  has  been  developed  into  a  tnmk  line,  which 
leads  from  learning  to  life.  A  new  series  of  studies  has 
been  incorporated  in  the  curriculum  of  the  universities. 
Where  a  generation  ago  scarcely  a  single  academic 
course  was  offered  in  any  country  which  approached 


UNIVERSITIES  AND   SOCIAL  CONSCIENCE     25 

the  social  question  as  a  problem  of  philosophy,  today, 
in  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  no  university  regards  its  system  of  instruction 
as  complete  without  proposing  to  apply  the  principles 
of  economics  and  of  ethics  to  the  questions  of  the  social 
order,  and  contributing  trained  recruits  to  the  army 
of  social  service.  No  group  of  studies  proves  more 
inviting  to  the  students  than  those  which  thus  analyze 
and  interpret  the  problems  of  modem  society.  The 
new  department  of  research  opens  a  window  from 
college  studies  to  the  working  world,  and  looks  out 
upon  a  new  horizon  of  duty.  Education  is  touched, 
m  an  unprecedented  degree,  by  the  spirit  of  social 
morality.  In  my  own  university  more  than  three 
hundred  students  voluntarily  associate  themselves 
each  year,  under  skilled  direction,  in  various  forms  of 
social  service,  and  throw  themselves  into  these  under- 
takings of  philanthropy  with  athletic  zest.  A  new 
profession  with  its  own  professional  school,  is  in  process 
of  creation,  and  it  has  as  yet  the  peculiar  advantage  of 
being  one  of  few  vocations  now  inviting  educated  men 
and  women,  where  the  demand  still  outruns  the  supply. 
This  response  of  the  universities  to  the  call  of  the  social 
conscience  has  already  had  perceptible  effects  in  the 
social  struggle  itself.  The  finest  expression,  for  ex- 
ample, of  modem  philanthropy  —  that  self-effacing 
neighborliness  which  we  call  the  settlement  system  — 
was  devised  by  a  university  tutor,  established  by 
university  students,  and  for  years  bore  the  title  of  the 
university  settlement  plan.  Industrial  reform  feels 
the  same  effect  of  academic  idealism.  The  employing 
class  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  reluctantly  driven 
to  social  amelioration,  and  the  more  important  steps 
have  been  taken  by  an  unexpected  combination  of 
numbers  and  ideas.  The  wage-earners  have  provided 
the  first,    and   the   philosophers  have    provided   the 

SAINT  ANTHONY'S  SEMINARY 

SANTA  BARBARA,  GAL. 


26    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

second.  Briefly  stated,  the  labor  movement  in  Great 
Britain  is  little  else  than  the  idealism  of  Carlyle  and 
Ruskin,  translated  into  the  language  of  working- 
class  organization  and  protest ;  and  what  the  working- 
class  movement  now  most  definitely  needs  in  all  lands 
is  a  more  comprehensive  knowledge  of  facts,  and  a 
saner  wisdom  of  leadership.  How  to  know  enough  to 
be  of  real  use ;  how  to  see  enough  to  be  a  real  leader ; 
how  to  be  good  enough  to  be  good  for  something  — 
that  is  the  new  problem  of  social  service,  which  gives 
to  academic  training  its  new  importance  in  the 
moral  education  of  the  human  race. 


A    NEW    RELIGIOUS    CONSECRATION 

Nor  can  one  stop  even  here  in  this  estimate  of 
education  in  its  relation  to  the  social  conscience.  It 
is  not  only  true  that  the  appeal  of  the  social  conscience 
is  expanding  and  moralizing  the  sphere  of  the  academic 
life,  but  it  is  still  further  true  that  there  may  be  dis- 
cerned in  the  university,  emerging  from  this  new  moral 
enthusiasm,  a  new  type  of  religious  consecration  ap- 
propriate to  a  new  world.  What  is  the  call  of  the  time 
to  educated  youth  which  summons  them  to  social  ser- 
vice ?  What  are  these  motives  of  self-effacing  useful- 
ness, this  dissatisfaction  with  the  self -centered  life, 
this  summons  to  find  life  in  losing  it,  if  they  are  not  a 
reiteration  of  the  appeal  which  in  all  the  ages  of  faith 
have  turned  men  from  self-seeking  to  self-sacrifice,  and 
sanctified  them  for  others'  sake?  There  are  many 
channels  through  which  the  life  of  man  is  led  toward 
the  life  of  God;  sometimes  through  the  convictions 
of  the  reason,  sometimes  through  the  exaltation  of  the 
emotions ;  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  present  age 
is  drawing  men  toward  the  eternal  through  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  will  to  human  service.    The  new  humanism 


THE   PRESENT  MORAL  AWAKENING  27 

may  utter  itself  in  language  unfamiliar  to  the  tradi- 
tions of  religion ;  it  may  seem  to  many  religious  people 
remote  or  even  alien  from  the  practices  of  the  chtu"ch ; 
but  it  is  at  bottom  a  new  spiritual  movement  of  human 
solidarity  and  obligation,  and  it  may  be  the  first  pre- 
monition of  a  coming  renaissance  of  religious  responsi- 
bility and  consecration.  So  large  a  movement  of 
moral  education  is  not  likely  to  fulfill  itself  without 
expanding  into  a  new  type  of  religious  education. 
The  emergence  of  the  social  conscience  indicates  a  new 
path  for  religious  teaching  and  religious  experience. 
The  call  of  the  social  question  is  not  only  a  call  to  man, 
but  not  less  a  call  from  God. 


THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PRESENT  MORAL 
AWAKENING  IN   THE   NATION 

REV.  LYMAN  ABBOTT,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

EDITOR,    THE    OUTLOOK,    NEW    YORK 

If  you  have  ever  heard  a  symphony  concert  you 
have  been  filled  with  wonder  at  seeing  one  man  playing 
upon  one  hundred  men  as  though  they  were  instru- 
ments; and  you  have  wondered  how  that  man  could 
so  play  upon  a  hundred  men  that  they  should  inter- 
pret together  one  of  the  great  masters.  That  is 
autocracy  in  music;  one  man  with  a  feeling  of  the 
beauty  and  a  hundred  answering  to  his  touch.  I  once 
attended  a  concert  in  which  five  men  seemed  to  inter- 
pret in  perfect  unison  the  theme  of  the  composer.  I 
was  puzzled  to  know  which  of  the  five  was  leader. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  concert  I  asked  one  of  the 
five  who  led.  "No  one,"  was  the  answer.  "Then," 
said  I,  "you  must  have  practised  many  times  together 
in  order  to  be  able  to  render  it  so  effectively."  "  Only 
once,"  he  said.     "How,  then,  could  you  interpret  it 


28    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

so  perfectly?"  I  asked.  "Because,"  he  said,  "we  all 
felt  it  together."  That  is  democracy:  Feeling,  think- 
ing, willing  together;  with  one  thought,  one  emotion, 
one  purpose.  This  is  what  democracy  must  do  if  it 
would  be  democracy.  The  seventy  millions  of  people 
constituting  the  population  of  these  United  States  of 
America  must  learn  how  to  feel,  to  think,  and  to  plan 
together.  They  may  be  guided,  but  not  controlled. 
There  must  be  a  corporate  judgment,  a  corporate  feel- 
ing, a  corporate  purpose,  a  corporate  conscience ;  and 
when  this  corporate  judgment  is  formed,  this  corporate 
feeling  aroused,  this  corporate  purpose  settled,  leaders 
become  followers  and  must  go  where  democracy  de- 
mands they  should  go. 

During  two  years  of  the  Civil  War  the  radicals 
waited  impatiently  for  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion ;  and  Lincoln  waited.  For,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
President,  the  time  had  not  arrived  to  strike  an  effec- 
tive blow  at  the  labor  system  of  the  South.  It  was 
his  desire  that  slavery  should  be  abolished  but,  with 
his  characteristic  caution,  he  deemed  it  wise  to  wait 
until  the  sentiment  for  abolition  became  more  pro- 
nounced. 

Not  till  after  two  years'  education  did  the  people 
engaged  in  the  Civil  War  learn  that  slavery  was  the 
cause  of  the  war.  They  had  their  conscience  aroused 
against  slavery.  Then  it  was  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
issued  the  "Emancipation  Proclamation."  It  was 
then  the  proclamation  not  of  the  President  only,  but 
of  the  people. 

During  one  hundred  years  this  nation  has  been 
learning  certain  great  moral  lessons  concerning  the 
rights  of  property.  How  may  property  be  honestly 
acquired?  What  are  the  rights  of  property  when  it 
is  acquired  ?  What  limitations  may  be  justly  regarded 
as  belonging  to   these  rights?     Seventy  millions  of 


THE   PRESENT  MORAL  AWAKENING        29 

people  have  been  learning  the  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions diiring  the  years  that  have  passed.  One  hun- 
dred years  ago,  not  more,  the  American  people  believed 
that  one  man  might  own  another  man.  It  was 
claimed  by  some  that  a  man  might  own  his  fellow 
man  and  carry  him  where  he  might;  by  some  that 
they  might  own  a  man  in  the  state;  by  some  that  no 
man,  under  any  circumstances,  could  have  a  right  to 
own  other  men.  After  fifty  years'  education,  the 
nation  has  learned  that  no  man  has  the  right  to  own 
his  fellow  man.  There  is  not  to  be  found  to-day  any 
defender  of  the  system  of  slavery. 

In  the  midst  of  that  Civil  War,  in  1862,  the  Ameri- 
can Congress  passed  the  Homestead  Law,  by  which 
they  declared  that  any  man  might  have  for  the  asking 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government  land  if  he 
would  build  upon,  then  occupy  them.  They  passed 
another  law  to  give  millions  of  acres  to  a  few  men 
provided  they  would  build  a  railroad  across  the  con- 
tinent. Whether  this  was  wise  or  not  I  am  not  here 
to  discuss.  But  as  a  result  of  this  doctrine  of  private 
ownership  of  the  public  domain,  the  forests  passed 
into  the  hands  of  a  small  body  of  men ;  the  gold  and  the 
silver  to  another  small  body;  the  coal  and  the  oil  to 
another  small  body.  And  in  consequence  of  this 
policy,  in  the  lifetime  of  two  generations  our  forests 
were  so  despoiled  that  it  looks  as  though  shortly  we 
should  have  no  more  timber-lands.  In  1879  Henry 
George  issued  his  book  on  "  Progress  and  Poverty," 
and  put  clearly  before  the  people  the  question  whether 
the  air,  water,  light,  land,  and  its  contents  are  a  proper 
subject  of  property.  His  position  was  logical;  that 
land  is  not  a  proper  subject  of  private  ownership. 
You  can  not  own  the  sunlight  —  God  owns  it ;  nor 
the  ocean  —  it  belongs  to  all  God's  children.  The 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  practically 


so    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

said  that  no  man  or  body  of  men  can  own  or  control 
a  navigable  river;  and,  therefore,  it  would  seem  that 
they  can  no  more  own  a  millstream.  Why  the  right 
to  own  forests  and  coal-fields,  if  no  right  to  own  the 
river?  Why  the  soil,  if  not  the  water?  The  Ameri- 
can people  are  coming  to  have  this  view:  that  the 
right  of  man  to  own  land  is  an  artificial  right;  and 
we  are  coming  to  believe  that  land  ought  not  to  be 
made  subjects  of  property  by  artificial  arrangement, 
except  with  careful  qualifications  and  limitations. 
And  in  spite  of  some  strong  pecuniary  and  property 
interests,  we  are  coming  to  this  conclusion,  that  we 
will  give  away  no  more  forest  grants,  no  more  great 
mining  properties ;  that  we  will  only  give  land  in  small 
quantities  to  men  who  will  occupy  it.  We  are  even 
beginning  to  propose  to  buy  back  some  of  the  lands 
given  away.  The  great  treasures  of  forest,  mine,  and 
coal  are  the  gifts  of  God  to  His  children,  and  we  are 
trying  to  find  out  how  the  children  who  have  given 
away  their  belongings  can  get  back  their  belongings 
without  dishonesty,  or  without  doing  injustice  to  those 
who  have  been  allowed  to  become  property-owners. 
That  is  our  land  problem. 

Within  the  memory  of  our  fathers  lotteries  and 
gambling  operations  were  sanctioned  by  law  and  used 
for  the  endowment  of  educational,  philanthropic,  and 
religious  institutions.  Now  they  are  not  considered 
quite  the  thing  —  unless  they  are  carried  on  under  the 
auspices  of  a  church!  The  gambling  spirit  has  grown 
with  the  growth  of  the  nation.  In  gambling  the 
winner  gets  the  property  of  his  neighbor  without  giving 
anything  for  it  except  a  chance  to  some  one  else  to 
get  his  property  without  paying  anything  for  it. 
Gambling  grows  out  of  a  desire  to  get  something  for 
nothing,  and  this  is  always  a  vicious  desire.  So  long 
as  two  gamblers  engage  in  the  operation  on  equal 


THE   PRESENT   MORAL  AWAKENING         31 

terms,  the  injury  is  largely  limited  to  them.  But 
when  this  gambling  extends  to  com,  cotton,  railroad, 
and  mining  stocks  the  whole  community  is  affected. 
Last  fall  a  savings-bank  in  Montana  was  wrecked  as 
a  result  of  stock-gambling  operations  in  Wall  Street. 
Getting  something  for  nothing  by  force  is  robbery; 
getting  something  for  nothing  by  stealth  is  theft; 
getting  something  for  nothing  by  false  pretense  is 
fraud.  We  have  as  a  nation  concluded  that  getting 
something  for  nothing,  however  or  wherever  done,  is 
dishonesty.  No  man  has  a  right  to  take  his  neigh- 
bor's property,  whatever  the  device  by  which  he  does 
it,  without  giving  him  a  fair  equivalent  for  it  — 
whether  he  does  it  by  force,  or  by  stealth,  or  by  fraud, 
or  by  gambling,  or  by  stock-jobbing,  or  by  adultera- 
tion, or  by  any  one  of  the  hundred  methods  by  which 
men  in  this  country  are  trying  to  get  something  for 
nothing. 

In  our  complicated  system  of  industry  of  the  present 
day  no  one  person  any  longer  makes  anything.  In 
the  olden  time  the  shoemaker  bought  the  leather  and 
the  tools  and  made  the  shoes,  and  the  shoes  were  his. 
To-day  the  leather  and  the  tools  are  bought  by  a  few 
men  called  capitalists,  and  the  work  is  done  by  a 
large  number  of  men  called  laborers.  They  combine 
to  make  the  shoe.  To  whom  does  that  shoe  belong? 
When  the  shoemaker  made  it,  it  belonged  to  him. 
When  a  hundred  men  combine  to  make  it,  to  whom 
does  it  belong?  Capitalism  says  the  shoe  belongs  to 
the  tool-owner,  and  that  his  debt  is  discharged  when 
he  pays  a  fair  rate  of  wages  to  the  laborer  and  the 
manager.  On  the  other  hand,  socialism  —  that  is, 
state  socialism  —  says  the  shoe  belongs  to  the  hand- 
worker and  that  the  tools  should  belong  to  the  state. 
We  are  beginning  to  learn  that  the  shoe  is  really  the 
property  of  the  three  who  participate  in  the  product 


32     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

—  the  capitalist,  the  superintendent  of  industry,  and 
the  laborers.  The  labor  problem  is  how  the  value  of 
the  shoe  can  be  equably  divided  between  the  three. 
An  artist  paints  a  picture,  and  that  picture  belongs 
to  him.  Why  is  it  his  picture?  Because  the  man 
has  projected  himself  into  that  picture.  Whatever 
a  man  produces  is  his  because  he  is  in  it.  What- 
ever three  men  produce  in  commerce  is  theirs  because 
they  are  in  it ;  and  the  industrial  problem  is  how  shall 
that  property  be  equably  divided  between  them?  It 
never  will  be  fairly  divided  between  them  by  putting 
it  on  the  ground  and  letting  them  fight  for  it  as  dogs 
fight  for  a  bone.  The  capitalist  is  wrong  in  the  view 
that  the  product  belongs  to  the  tool-owner  provided 
he  pays  a  fair  wage  to  the  laborer.  The  laborer  is 
wrong  if  he  thinks  it  belongs  to  him,  and  the  tool-owner 
has  no  share  in  it.  Gradually  we  are  learning  that 
every  product  of  joint  labor  belongs  to  the  men  that 
produce  it. 

Capitalism,  or  the  doctrine  that  the  proceeds  of 
labor  all  belong  to  the  capitalist  provided  he  pays  the 
laborer  a  fair  wage,  was  bom  in  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Personally,  I  very  much  doubt 
if  it  will  survive  the  first  half  of  the  twentieth  century. 
All  tools  owned  by  the  state,  and  all  labor  under  the 
authority  of  the  state,  will  not  be  bom  at  all;  not 
because  it  is  an  impracticable  idea,  but  because  it  is 
essentially  unjust,  an  oppression  of  labor,  a  destroyer 
of  liberty;  because  it  substitutes  one  political  master 
of  industry  for  another  political  master  of  industry, 
instead  of  substituting  liberty;  and  what  we  as  a 
nation  want  is  an  industry  that  shall  be  free.  I  have 
no  doubt  as  to  what  the  issue  of  the  present  conflict 
will  be.  The  corporate  conscience  of  the  American 
people  is  stronger  than  all  private  interests  that  can 
be  produced ;  and  the  lessons  we  have  learned  will  be 


EFFECTIVE   EDUCATIONAL   UNITY  33 

given  to  our  children,  who  will  understand  them  better 
than  we  understand  them.  No  man  has  a  right  to 
take  property  out  of  his  neighbor's  pocket  without 
giving  him  a  fair  equivalent.  We  want  not  socialism 
on  the  one  hand;  not  capitalism,  on  the  other,  but 
democracy  of  labor,  industry  of  the  people,  by  the 
people  for  the  people,  and  industry  of  all  the  people 
with  neither  the  idle  rich  nor  the  idle  poor;  industrj- 
by  all  the  people,  laborer  and  capitalist  sharing  in  the 
control  of  the  great  industrial  system;  and  industry 
for  all  the  people,  all  sharing  in  some  equable  pro- 
portion in  the  profits  of  their  common  industry. 


BRINGING  ALL  THE  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS 

FORCES  INTO  EFFECTIVE  EDUCATIONAL 

UNITY 

WASHINGTON  GLADDEN,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

PASTOR    OF    THE    FIRST    CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH  OF  COLUMBUS,   O. 

The  religious  forces  of  the  commtmity  —  what  are 
they? 

The  churches,  of  course,  with  their  affiliated  agencies 
—  the  Sunday  schools,  the  Yoimg  Men's  and  the  Yoimg 
Women's  Christian  Associations,  the  King's  Sons  and 
Daughters,  the  Salvation  Army  and  the  Volunteers, 
and  a  part  of  the  social  settlement.  The  distinctively, 
Religious  colleges  and  schools  would  also  come  into  this 
category. 

The  Christian  home,  of  course,  is  a  religious  force  — 
the  first  and  the  mightiest  of  religious  forces.  And  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  that  many  homes  which  give 
but  little  outward  sign  of  being  Christian  homes  would 
be  unfairly  treated  if  we  denied  to  them  any  religious 
character.  Very  feeble  and  defective  is  the  religious 
influence  in  many  of  them,  but  from  few  of  them  is  it 


34    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

altogether  absent.  Even  the  roughest  and  most  de- 
graded people,  when  they  stand  in  the  presence  of  the 
sacred  mystery  of  parenthood ;  when  they  look  into  the 
eyes  of  those  round  about  whom  Heaven  lies,  and  press 
to  their  bosoms  such  as  are  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
have  some  revelations  made  to  them,  and  there  are  few 
among  them  who  are  not  sometimes  in  the  praying 
mood.  These  altars  are  often  terribly  desecrated,  but 
I  am  disposed  to  decline  discrimination,  and  to  reckon 
the  homes  of  the  people  among  the  religious  agencies. 

What  are  the  moral  forces  ?  Can  we  make  any  list 
or  classification  of  them  ?  What  shall  we  say  of  the 
schools?  Are  they  moral  agencies?  Originally  they 
were  regarded  as  religious  agencies.  The  first  public 
schools  in  America  were  intended  to  teach  the  children 
the  elements  of  religion.  The  whole  of  the  public  in- 
struction was  for  a  long  time  affected  with  a  deeply 
religious  character.  That  interest  is  now  pretty  thor- 
oughly eliminated  from  public -school  instruction ;  and 
we  have  learned,  perhaps  too  well,  to  regard  the  public 
school  as  having  aims  which  are  chiefly  intellectual. 
But  I  am  sure  that  this  estimate  is  under  correction, 
and  that  most  educators  now  clearly  see  that  character 
is  the  product  which  our  schools  must  be  expected  to 
produce.  The  one  fact  which  we  must  insist  upon  in 
all  our  administration  is  that  our  schools  shall  be  pri- 
marily and  essentially  moral  agencies ;  that,  no  matter 
what  their  intellectual  achievements  may  be,  they  shall 
be  deemed  to  have  wholly  failed  of  their  highest  func- 
tion if  they  do  not  give  us  good  men  and  women. 

The  press  —  is  that  a  moral  agency  ?  In  its  worst 
estate  it  is  far  from  that;  in  its  best  estate  there  are 
few  moral  agencies  more  efficient.  In  the  days  when 
newspapers  were  owned  and  edited  by  individuals  they 
were  often  powerful  instruments  of  righteousness; 
even  in  these  days  they  have  not  all  lost  the  prophetic 


EFFECTIVE   EDUCATIONAL  UNITY  35 

function.  One  might  name  not  a  few  daily  and  weekly- 
newspapers,  and  a  goodly  number  of  monthly  maga- 
zines whose  services  to  good  morals  are  of  the  highest 
value. 

We  have  also  a  variety  of  organizations  in  most  of 
our  communities  whose  objects  are  avowedly  moral, 
such  as  temperance  organizations,  societies  for  the~ 
suppression  of  vice,  rescue  homes  for  women,  and  the 
like;  and  those  settlements  which  are  not  professedly 
religious  in  their  aims  are  all  primarily  moral  agencies, 
since  the  interests  of  character  are  paramount  in  all 
their  work,  and  the  relief  of  suffering  and  the  enlighten- 
ment of  ignorance  are  held  subservient  to  the  building 
up  of  manhood  and  womanhood.  The  same  thing 
might  be  said  about  the  charity  organization  societies ; 
for  the  modem  charity  is  distinguished  by  the  emphasis 
which  it  places  on  the  invigoration  of  the  character  of 
those  to  whom  it  ministers. 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  institution  which  includes 
them  all  —  the  civil  government  —  the  political  organi- 
zation of  the  state  or  the  city  ?  If  we  will  be  thorough 
in  our  thinking  we  must  say  that  the  state  is  first  of  all 
a  religious,  a  divine  institution,  since  it  springs  out  of 
an  imptilse  divinely  implanted  in  the  human  soul. 
And  if  we  admit  that  its  function  is  to  establish  justice, 
we  can  hardly  hesitate  to  say  with  Hegel  that  it  is  a 
moral  organization,  for  justice  is  the  primary  element 
of  morality.  That  is  moral  conduct  by  which  a  man 
realizes  himself,  completes  his  manhood;  and  the 
rights  which  the  state  maintains  and  protects  are 
simply  the  opportiniities  of  self-realization.  Civil 
government,  when  rightly  conceived,  is  therefore  the 
one  supreme  and  crowning  expression  of  morality  which 
the  world  contains,  and  we  must  never  suffer  this  con- 
ception of  it  to  be  blurred  or  lowered  on  behalf  of  any 
mere  economic  or  materialistic  interpretation. 


36    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

Our  problem  is  to  bring  these  religious  and  moral 
forces  into  effective  educational  unity.  The  churches 
of  all  creeds,  with  their  progeny  of  religious  institutions ; 
the  homes,  the  schools,  the  colleges,  the  newspapers 
and  magazines,  the  various  organizations  for  human 
betterment,  the  governments  of  the  nation  and  the 
state  and  the  city  which  include  them  all  —  how  can 
we  get  them  all  to  cooperate  for  the  purpose  of  educa- 
tion ?  That  seems,  indeed,  a  very  large  contract.  Yet 
when  we  stop  to  reflect  upon  the  essential  fimctions  of 
all  these  agencies,  the  question  does  not,  after  all,  seem 
so  visionary.  For  the  truth  is  that  the  proper  work 
of  all  these  religious  and  moral  institutions  and  organi- 
zations is  largely  the  work  of  education.  That,  at 
first  blush,  may  not  be  so  evident ;  but  a  little  reflection 
will  make  it  clear. 

The  periodical  press,  in  all  its  types  and  varieties, 
deems  itself  charged  with  an  educational  function. 
Even  those  philanthropic  and  reformatory  agencies  of 
which  we  have  spoken  do  their  best  work  along  educa- 
tional lines.  The  temperance  societies  succeed  only 
by  enlightening  the  public  mind  with  respect  to  the 
physiological  and  economic  and  moral  effects  of  strong 
drink,  and  of  the  drink  traffic.  The  settlements  are  not 
only  frankly  and  broadly  educational  in  their  institu- 
tional work,  with  clubs  and  classes  and  lectures,  but  the 
entire  conception  of  their  fimction  is  that  of  teaching, 
by  precept  and  example,  a  better  manner  of  life.  The 
home,  to  the  children  growing  up  in  it,  is  ideally  a 
school  of  method.  The  best  home  does  far  more  for 
the  education  of  its  inmates  than  all  other  institutions 
put  together.  The  best  home  furnishes  to  the  children 
protection,  shelter,  sustenance;  but,  after  all,  its 
greatest  service  to  them  is  in  teaching  and  the  training 
which  are  properly  included  in  the  category  of  educa- 
tion.    Watch  the  intercourse  of  a  wide-awake  child 


EFFECTIVE   EDUCATIONAL  UNITY  37 

with  a  thoughtful  mother  for  a  day,  and  see  how  large 
a  proportion  of  all  would  be  reckoned  as  contributions 
to  the  child's  education. 

The  church  is  also,  primarily,  an  educational  insti- 
tution. We  are  sometimes  inclined  to  emphasize 
rather  its  rescue  work,  and  that,  of  course,  must  never 
be  lost  sight  of.  The  church  is  in  the  world  to  save 
souls,  we  say,  and  that  is  true ;  only  we  must  remember 
that  souls  are  just  people  —  men,  women,  and  children. 
Our  business  is  to  save  them;  but  in  this  we  are  the 
followers  of  Jesus,  and  the  title  by  which  Jesus  was 
best  known  was  Teacher.  His  followers  were  His 
disciples  —  learners ;  and  the  word  in  which  He  sub- 
merged His  message  was  "Repent,"  which  means 
"  Change  yotir  mind,"  get  a  new  idea  of  what  life  means. 
That  was  His  way  of  saving  men.  He  put  a  new  idea 
of  the  meaning  of  life  into  their  minds,  and  got  them  to 
choose  it.  That  is  the  greatest  work  that  any  teacher 
ever  does  for  a  pupil. 

This,  surely,  is  the  main  business  of  the  church. 
It  has  not  always  remembered  its  commission;  it  has 
often  put  the  emphasis  elsewhere;  but  the  one  thing 
that  the  world  wants  of  the  chiu"ch  to-day  is  to  come 
right  back  to  first  principles,  and  take  up  the  work 
where  Jesus  left  it  off,  and  teach  men  the  way  of  life, 
just  as  He  taught  it,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  If 
we  could  only  get  men  to  accept  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
and  live  by  it,  all  our  troubles,  national  and  inter- 
national, would  soon  be  at  an  end.  I  hope  that  we  are 
beginning  to  see  that  this  is  the  main  business  of  the 
church,  and  when  we  do  see  it,  the  educational  function 
of  the  church  will  soon  take  the  rank  which  Jesus 
gave  it. 

Is  this  other  great  institution  of  civil  government, 
in  any  sense,  an  educational  institution?  It  would 
seem  that  it  must  be ;  for  in  this  country  at  least  it  has 


38    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

arrogated  to  itself  the  supreme  educational  prerogative, 
and  holds  itself  responsible  for  the  education  of  all  the 
children  and  the  youth.  Of  course,  there  are  other 
fiinctions  of  the  state  besides  those  which  are  distinctly 
educational ;  but  the  fact  that  education  is  an  integral 
and  prominent  part  of  its  high  prerogative  can  hardly 
be  questioned.  And  this  interest  appears  not  only  in 
its  assumption  of  the  care  of  public  education,  but  also 
in  all  the  administration  of  public  affairs.  An  en- 
lightened government  is  always  educating  the  people; 
it  is  teaching  them  the  laws  of  health ;  it  is  suggesting 
to  them  methods  of  thrift ;  it  is  refining  their  tastes.by 
producing  for  them  parks  and  pleasure-grounds,  free 
libraries  and  galleries;  it  is  leading  them  to  great 
cooperations  in  the  provision  for  their  needs.  Take 
the  government  of  a  city  such  as  Glasgow  or  Berlin; 
how  much  is  done  outside  of  the  schools,  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  people? 

In  truth  we  may  say  that  the  greatest  rulers  that  the 
world  has  known  were  distinguished  by  their  work  for 
the  education  of  the  people,  Moses,  Lycurgus,  Con- 
fucius, Marcus  Aurelius,  Alfred  the  Great,  Charlemagne, 
Peter  of  Russia  —  were  not  these  preeminently  teachers 
of  men  ? 

In  a  very  important  sense  it  is  true  that  the  main 
work  of  the  great  political  leader  in  a  democracy  is  the 
work  of  education.  To  get  right  ideas  into  the  minds 
of  the  people ;  to  teach  them  to  see  things  as  they  are 
and  to  deal  with  them  intelligently,  is  the  best  part  of 
his  high  calling. 

How  large  and  deep  was  the  concern  of  Washington 
as  expressed  in  all  his  state  papers,  and  notably  in  his 
farewell  address,  that  the  people  shotdd  rightly  value 
the  liberties  which  they  had  won,  and  sacredly  keep  the 
compact  of  their  unity.  No  man  has  ever  more  clearly 
discerned  the  truth  that  the  life  of  the  nation  is  in  its 


EFFECTIVE   EDUCATIONAL   UNITY  39 

ruling  ideas;  that  as  a  nation  thinketh  in  its  heart, 
so  is  it. 

What  did  this  nation  most  need  when  the  great 
struggle  of  the  Civil  War  drew  on?  It  needed  to  be 
taught  what  to  think  about  slavery  and  freedom ;  about 
the  meaning  and  genius  of  our  government ;  about  the 
compacts  of  the  Constitution ;  about  complications  and 
perils  which  the  nation  was  then  confronting.  It  had 
many  teachers,  but  wisest,  clearest,  most  convincing 
of  them  all  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  was  his  great 
gift  of  exposition  which  came  out  so  strongly  in  his 
debate  with  Douglas  and  in  his  Cooper-Institute 
speech  that  drew  the  people  to  him;  and  through  all 
the  days  of  the  war  the  greatest  service  that  he  rend- 
ered to  the  nation  was  in  the  illumination  of  the  minds 
of  the  nation,  in  his  inaugurals,  letters,  speeches.  He 
made  it  all  plain  to  us.  He  helped  us  to  see  things  as 
.they  were.  That  is  why  we  loved  and  trusted  him. 
That  is  why  the  people  were  held  together  for  the  great 
struggle. 

What  does  this  nation  most  need  in  the  critical 
times  through  which  it  is  now  passing?  It  needs 
education  in  the  principles  of  social  justice.  It  needs 
to  be  taught  how  these  principles  apply  to  our  complex 
industrial  and  commercial  life,  A  great  many  things 
have  been  going  on  among  us,  the  nature  of  which  the 
people  at  large  do  not  clearly  comprehend.  A  great 
many  subtle  and  veiled  injustices  have  been  weaving 
themselves  into  our  business  life,  and  the  cunning  and 
the  strong  have  been  able  to  enrich  themselves  at  the 
expense  of  the  rest  of  us.  There  is  need  that  all  this 
should  be  brought  into  the  light  and  made  plain  to  the 
comprehension  of  the  common  people.  We  all  believe 
in  justice,  in  fair  play,  in  the  square  deal ;  but  we  need 
to  be  taught  how  these  principles  apply  to  the  great 
and  complicated  transactions  of  modem  industrial  life. 


40    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

I  think  that  it  was  the  supreme  obligation  of  the  man 
at  the  head  of  the  nation  in  this  hour  to  make  the 
people  imderstand  these  things.  That  obligation  he 
has  faithfully  discharged.  No  more  effective  teaching 
has  ever  been  done  in  this  country.  The  people  do 
understand  these  things  to-day,  thanks  to  Theodore 
Roosevelt.  And  they  are  not  likely  to  forget  the  man 
who  has  led  them  into  the  light  and  shown  them  the 
path  of  national  safety  and  honor. 

If,  then,  all  these  religious  and  moral  agencies  and 
forces  of  society  —  the  home,  the  church,  the  school, 
the  state,  and  all  the  rest  —  are  in  their  very  nature 
educational  forces,  it  ought  not  to  be  impossible  to 
bring  them  into  effective  educational  imity.     But  how  ? 

Could  we  agree  upon  our  ideals?  It  seems  to  me 
that  there  is  already  some  approximation  to  an  agree- 
ment upon  ideals.  Could  we  not  unite  in  saying  that 
the  chief  business  of  education  in  all  these  fields  is  to 
assist  men  to  realize  themselves,  to  complete  their 
manhood?  Is  not  this  what  the  church  means  by 
saving  men  ?  Can  the  home  set  before  itself  any  higher 
destiny  for  the  children  growing  up  in  it  ?  Might  not 
the  school  recognize  this  as  the  statement  of  its  aim? 
And  how  better  could  the  state  define  its  highest  duty 
to  its  citizens  ?  Could  we  not  all  set  this  before  us  as 
the  thing  to  be  believed  in  and  striven  for  —  that  every 
man  shall  have  a  chance  to  be  a  man  —  to  become 
what  God  meant  him  to  be  ?  Could  we  not  agree  that 
all  our  teaching  and  training  shall  keep  that  end 
steadily  in  view? 

This  would  mean,  of  course,  that  we  should  pledge 
ourselves  to  see  that  the  obstacles  should  be  cleared 
from  every  man's  path  and  the  gates  of  opportunity 
set  open  before  him.  It  would  mean  that  the  strong 
should  not  be  permitted  to  prey  upon  the  weak,  or  use 
them  for  their  own  aggrandizement. 


EFFECTIVE   EDUCATIONAL   UNITY  41 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  asking  too  much  when 
we  ask  the  moral  and  religious  forces  of  the  commimity 
to  come  to  a  fair  understanding  about  this ;  but  when 
they  have  done  it  they  will  have  taken  a  long  step  to- 
ward unity. 

But  they  will  need  to  go  further.  For  no  man, 
alone,  can  complete  his  manhood.  That  great  achieve- 
ment requires  the  cooperation  of  a  great  many  people. 
It  is  by  the  constant  interplay  of  thought  and  feeling, 
of  teaching  and  learning,  of  giving  and  receiving,  of 
leading  and  being  led,  of  yielding  and  resisting,  of  loving 
and  hating,  that  character  is  wrought  out  and  manhood 
is  perfected.  The  elements  of  belief,  of  impulse,  of 
mental  habit,  of  moral  tendency,  of  habitual  judgment, 
which  form  what  we  call  the  character  of  every  one  of 
us,  are  largely  the  contribution  to  our  lives  of  other 
lives.  No  man  liveth  to  himself.  No  man  builds  his 
own  manhood  out  of  materials  furnished  by  himself. 
A  self-made  man  is  a  conception  as  unscientific  as 
perpetual  motion. 

What,  now,  should  be  the  law  of  this  intellectual 
and  spiritual  commerce  on  which  the  entire  product 
of  character  depends.  I  shall  not  be  venturing  upon 
any  novelty  if  I  say  that  it  ought  to  be  the  law  of 
friendship ;  that  all  our  exchanges  and  communications 
one  with  another  should  proceed  upon  the  basis  of 
friendship;  that  the  right  relation  of  human  beings  is 
that  in  which  each  finds  his  joy  in  giving  as  much  as  he 
can  to  all  with  whom  he  has  to  do,  and  in  sharing  his 
best  with  all  to  whom  he  can  be  of  any  service. 

This  is  Christ's  law  of  life,  and  I  believe  that  it  is  the 
true  law  —  the  law  by  which  both  the  individual  and 
society  are  brought  to  perfection. 

There  is  one  more  path  to  unity,  the  path  which 
leads  into  the  presence  of  Him  who  is  the  archetype  of 
all  our  ideals,  and  the  Being  in  whom  our  moral  obli- 


42     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

gation  and  our  religious  affections  are  united.  Religion 
and  morality  are  not  twain  but  one.  The  religion 
which  is  not  moral  is  superstition,  and  the  morality 
which  is  not  religious  is  dead,  being  alone.  If  we  will 
agree  upon  this,  and  will  steadily  and  persistently 
stand  for  it,  we  will  soon  find  ourselves  walking  in  the 
straight  path  that  leads  to  righteousness  and  unity. 
There  is  no  morality  worth  the  name  which  is  not 
rooted  and  grounded  in  the  law  of  Him  whom  we 
call  God,  and  worship.  All  these  moral  and  reli- 
gious forces  have  their  source  in  God,  and  are  vital  and 
efficient  only  as  they  come  into  relation  to  Him. 

When  we  are  united  to  Him  we  can  not  be  divided 
from  each  other.  There  may  be  diversity  of  laws, 
but  there  can  be  no  antagonism.  If  these  religious 
and  moral  forces  are  really  religious  and  moral,  they 
will  be  sure  to  come  into  harmony.  Is  it  too  much  to 
hope  that  all  these  good  people  who  are  seeking  to 
promote  the  interests  of  morality  and  religion  may 
begin  soon  to  work  toward  that  end  ?  The  one  way  to 
that  end  is  to  fill  the  world  with  a  Christlike  friendship. 
The  church  of  the  living  God  should  -understand  what 
has  been  committed  to  her.  The  three  agencies  that 
make  for  righteousness  in  our  land  to-day  are  the 
church,  the  state,  and  the  home.  Upon  each  of  these 
to-day  a  deadly  attack  is  made  by  forces  that  seek  to 
undermine  them. 

None  of  them  can  win  this  battle  alone ;  they  must 
stand  together  and  fight  for  their  lives.  The  worth 
and  sacredness  of  the  individual,  the  royal  law  of 
brotherhood,  the  divineness  of  humanity  are  all -essen- 
tial elements  in  the  higher  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  the 
nation. 


EDUCATION   FOR   SOCIAL   LIFE  43 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION   OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL 
FOR  SOCIAL  LIFE 

RUFUS  M.  JONES,  A.  M.,  LITT.  D. 

PROFESSOR  HAVERFORD  COLLEGE,  HAVERFORD,  PA. 

Few  recent  ideas  have  proved  more  fresh  and  fruit- 
ful than  the  idea  of  the  conjunct  life.  The  conception 
of  a  person  as  an  isolated,  solitary  and  self-centered 
individual  is  as  antiquated  and  exploded  as  the  Ptole- 
maic astronomy.  Life  is  a  bundle  of  relationship  —  it 
is  through  and  through  organic  and  over-individual. 
Only  in  a  social  group  can  anyone  become  a  good 
person,  and  nobody  is  a  good  person  who  is  not  making 
his  life  contribute  to  good  society. 

These  truths  are  now  almost  commonplaces,  for 
all  fields  of  human  study  have  contributed  facts  to 
verify  and  illustrate  them.  It  is  here  in  the  social 
group,  in  the  family,  in  the  school,  in  the  playgroimds, 
in  the  church,  in  the  Simday  school,  in  the  city,  the 
state,  the  nation,  in  numberless  similar  groups  —  that 
we  develop  our  consciences,  form  our  ideals,  discover 
our  possibilities,  discipline  ourselves,  and  build  our 
personal  characters.  The  self-made  person  is  thus 
more  rare  than  the  dodo.  There  simply  isn't  any 
such  person.  We  are  under  obligation  to  everybody, 
living  and  dead,  who  has  contributed  to  form  the  social 
environment  in  which  our  personal  lives  have  matured. 

The  little  fringe  of  coral  reef,  which  rises  above 
the  sea-level  and  forms  the  nucleus  for  the  deposit  of 
an  island,  owes  its  triumph  and  achievement  to  the 
uncounted  deposits  of  tiny  lives  lived  in  the  dark  below 
it,  the  slender  additions  of  multitudinous  generations. 
Somewhat  so  the  past  has  brought  its  gains  to  us.  The 
travail  and  the  tragedy,  the  joys  and  the  triumphs  of 
the  race  are  in  the  social  customs,  the  free  institutions, 


44     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

the  laws  and  religion,  the  home  ideals  and  the  civic 
spirit  in  which  every  one  of  us  has  been  cradled.  We 
are  bound  into  the  great  living  tissue  of  the  social  web 
and  we  can  no  more  live  unto  ourselves  than  a  cell  of  the 
body  can.  That  is  what  I  mean  when  I  say  that  life 
is  a  conjunct  affair. 

The  kind  of  religious  education  that  will  best  fit 
the  individual  for  social  life  will  be  an  education  which 
makes  his  life  normally,  naturally,  even  tinconsciously, 
contribute  to  the  development  of  society,  and  to  the 
spiritual  enlargement  of  the  group  to  which  he  belongs. 
We  have  learned  by  long  and  sad  experience  that  evil 
is  very  contagious.  It  is  the  verdict  of  all  who  ob- 
serve the  processes  which  make  and  immake  character, 
that  there  are  no  sin-tight  compartments.  The  sinner 
is  always  at  the  center  of  a  sin-vortex  of  wider  or 
narrower  sweep. 

We  must  now  learn  the  corresponding  truth  that 
goodness  is  just  as  contagious ;  that  there  -  are  no 
holiness-tight  compartments,  and  that  the  good  per- 
son is  at  the  center  of  a  righteousness-vortex  of  at  least 
equal  sweep.  The  important  question,  then,  is  how 
shall  we,  how  can  we  produce  persons  whose  lives 
will  shed  a  contagion  of  goodness,  or,  in  the  words  of 
the  great  Teacher,  will  be  "the  salt  of  the  earth," 
"the  light  of  the  world, "  will  be  "hidden  leaven" 
leavening  the  social  lump? 

The  best  method  of  religious  education  for  that 
purpose  would  be  one  which  brought  the  learner  into 
possession  of  Christ's  revelation  of  the  meaning  of  life. 
It  is  amazing  how  little  has  yet  been  done  in  this  direc- 
tion. Christ  has  been  assumed  to  be  the  originator  of  a 
complex  and  elaborate  system  of  theology,  the  founder 
of  a  vast  ecclesiastical  organization  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  salvation  for  men  in  the  world  to  come.  The 
problems  of  this  theology  are  dry  and  intricate;  the 


EDUCATION   FOR   SOCIAL  LIFE  45 

ecclesiastical  questions  are  subjects  of  endless  debate. 
Those  who  have  always  held  it  rigidly  have  always 
had  a  fear,  and  naturally  so,  of  what  they  called  "  mere 
morality,"  and  "good  works."  "Service"  has  been  to 
them  an  ominous  word.  They  have  found  it  extremely 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  work  out  a  method  of 
religious  education  which  produced  persons  whose  lives 
functioned  naturally  and  normally  and  spontaneously 
toward  the  construction  of  a  wholesome  and  spiritual 
social  group.  In  fact,  it  is  not  tuicommon  for  the  ex- 
treme holders  of  this  view  of  religion  to  maintain  that 
religion  is  not  something  that  can  be  taught  at  all. 

We  are  in  another  world  as  soon  as  we  go  back  to 
Christ.  With  Him  the  main  concern  has  shifted  from 
theology  to  religion,  from  systems  and  schemes  to  life 
itself,  from  the  aim  at  safety  in  another  world  to  the 
aim  at  personal  goodness  in  whatever  world  one  may 
be,  and  from  individual  seeking  of  any  sort  to  service 
of  every  sort.  The  passion  of  his  soul  is  for  a  King- 
dom of  God  and  He  sets  the  example  of  dying  to  Him- 
self and  all  his  isolated  interests  that  He  may  live  for 
and  promote  that  social  kingdom.  The  educational 
revolution  now  most  urgent  is  one  which  shall  deliv- 
er our  children  from  the  stones  of  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  and  shall  give  them  the  real  bread  of  the 
gospels. 

The  religious  teaching  of  the  past  has  taken  the 
child  out  of  the  warm  and  intimate  realm  of  experience 
into  a  strange  and  unknown  world,  where  nothing 
seemed  real.  It  was  a  world  of  miracle  and  dazzling 
light.  It  astonished,  but  did  not  inform.  Christ  did 
not  become  to  the  young  learner  a  real  and  genuine 
person,  facing  the  issues  of  life,  making  momentous 
choices,  exhibiting  the  heroic  and  tender  aspects  of 
character,  and  exhibiting  in  all  the  phases  of  his  com- 
plex life  the  spirit  of  love  and  service.     He  did  not 


46     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

become  the  inspirer  of  ideals  and  the  moiilder  of  their 
characters.     He  remained  distant  and  foreign. 

Our  first  concern  must  be,  both  in  our  Sunday 
schools  and  our  secular  schools,  to  put  Him  before 
these  plastic  minds  so  that  He  will  appeal  to  them 
as  the  true  goal  and  type  of  life,  so  that  all  unconscious- 
ly they  will  catch  and  absorb  His  ideals  and  become  in- 
formed with  His  spirit,  so  that  to  be  a  Christian  will  be 
synonymous  with  being  Christ-like.  All  our  deals,  as  we 
know,  bud  and  grow  silently  and  almost  unconsciously 
through  imitation,  through  the  contagion  of  example, 
through  the  subtle  influences  of  social  atmosphere, 
psychological  climate  and  spiritual  environment.  If 
we  want  to  produce  a  generation  of  persons  infused 
with  the  spirit  of  social  service,  we  must  inspire  these 
persons  in  their  early  youth  with  a  real  vision  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  whose  life  was  an  incarnation  of  this  spirit. 
We  must  do  for  the  children  of  our  generation  what 
the  mothers  of  Galilee  did ;  we  must  bring  them  to  the 
Master  and  let  them  see  and  hear  Him  and  come  imder 
His  marvellous  touch.  We  must  make  him  the  child's 
hero.     This  can  be  done. 

Our  first  great  need  is  some  new,  living,  dynamic, 
religious  literature.  We  have  Hawthorne's  splendid 
"Wonder  Book,"  and  Kingsley's  "Greek  Heroes," 
and  many  another  book  which  makes  the  heroic  and 
mythical  past  live  with  moving  descriptions  of  life, 
which  feed  the  child's  imagination  and  kindle  his  spirit. 
But  where  is  the  book  that  makes  Christ  the  boy's 
hero?  Where  is  the  book  which  makes  one  see  Him 
moving  among  the  real  men  and  women  and  children 
of  His  day,  touching  the  springs  of  life  and  shaping 
in  this  actual  world  a  kingdom  of  God  ?  There  is  no 
fresh  modem  book  that  a  boy  can  read,  which  tells  what 
the  kingdom  of  God  is.  He  is  left  to  suppose  that  it 
is  heaven,  and  never  dreams  that  it  is  a  kind  of  life 


EDUCATION   FOR   SOCIAL   LIFE  47 

which  he  is  expected  to  live  here  and  now.  The  ser- 
mon on  the  mount,  the  beatitudes,  the  parables,  the 
healings,  the  marvellous  conversations,  the  dramatic 
days  in  Jerusalem,  are  all  material  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  ideals  of  the  kingdom.  It  can  be  made  as  real, 
as  interesting,  as  dramatic  as  Caesar's  battles  or  as  the 
siege  of  Troy,'  but  it  is  not  yet  so  presented. 

We  want  forthwith  three  books  for  the  religious 
education  of  children  to  inform  them  with  the  spirit 
of  social  service.  One  on  the  great  Hebrew  prophets ; 
one  on  the  life  and  kingdom  of  Christ ;  and  one  on  the 
life  and  mission  of  that  great  hero  of  apostolic  Chris- 
tianity—  St.  Paul.  These  prophets,  at  present,  have 
practically  no  place  in  religious  education.  They 
ought  to  have  a  commanding  place.  They  are  among 
the  greatest  characters  and  the  greatest  creators  of  the 
race.  The  world  has  no  finer  examples  of  service ;  no 
more  dramatic  types  of  heroic  leadership;  no  nobler 
instances  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  ideal  country. 
There  they  lie  dumb  and  fallow  in  their  difficult  orien- 
tal books.  They  have  in  them  the  very  stuff  for  form- 
ing in  our  youth  ideals  of  service  and  social  devotion, 
but  they  wait  for  the  teacher  who  can  put  them  into 
modem  speech  and  show  them  in  the  actual  setting 
of  their  busy  constructive  lives. 

The  ordinary  teacher  —  and  alas !  it  is  the  kind  we 
are  most  familiar  with  —  is  even  more  helpless  when  she 
comes  to  teach  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  than  when  she 
tries  the  prophets.  She  has  no  illuminating  peda- 
gogical books  in  this  field  to  guide  her.  The  old  fash- 
ioned books  are  useless  and  the  modem  ones  are  too 
critical  and  profound .  She  wants  a  book  with  a  touch 
of  genius  in  it,  which  exhibits  the  real  Christ  forming 
in  the  society  of  his  day  the  kingdom  of  which  He  was 
king.  The  ideal  of  service  should  inform  and  infuse  it 
from  beginning  to  end  and  through  it  should  move 


48     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

that  beautiful,  tender,  interesting,  heroic  person 
always  girded  for  service  and  showing  in  all  his  acts 
the  meaning  of  his  own  highest  words:  "I  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister;"  "For  their 
sakes  I  sanctify  myself."  Theology  and  miracle 
should  be  in  the  background,  as  they  were  in  the  real 
life;  and  in  the  foreground,  in  pictures  of  warmth 
and  color,  the  life  itself  with  its  divine  attraction. 

Paul's  epistles,  as  they  stand,  are  closed  books  for 
the  ordinary  boy  and  girl.  The  young  reader  has  no 
idea  what  is  going  on  in  them.  But  they,  too,  with  the 
luminous  passages  in  Acts,  furnish  the  material  for 
portraying  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  one  of  the 
most  heroic  men  who  has  ever  served  the  race.  His 
life  and  work  in  the  Roman  Empire  have  all  the  ele- 
ments of  interest  and  of  dramatic  appeal.  It  is  possi- 
ble to  draw,  from  the  material  at  hand,  a  character 
which  should  present  to  all  serious  young  people  a  coer- 
cive ideal  of  service  and  an  inspiring  example  of  devo- 
tion and  consecration.  There  should  be  nothing 
artificial,  no  straining  for  "  morals, "  no  lugging  in  of  far- 
fetched "lessons, "  but  simply  the  portrayal  of  the  real 
person,  forgetting  self,  forgetting  all  narrow  interests, 
in  his  passion  for  Christ  and  the  kingdom  of  God. 

My  plea  is  simply  for  a  serious  attempt  to  teach  the 
greatest  religious  literature  of  the  world  to  the  children 
of  the  greatest  Christian  country  in  the  world.  We 
have  learned  how  to  teach  almost  everything  else  well. 
The  most  important  culture  material  in  existence,  we 
have  either  neglected  altogether  or  used  in  antiquated 
and  hit-or-miss  fashion.  The  times  of  this  ingorance, 
peradventure,  God  has  winked  at,  but  it  is  high  time 
for  such  ignorance  to  cease. 

If  we  want  to  train  individuals  for  social  service, 
we  must  inform  the  individual  minds  all  the  way  up 
with  ideals  of  service  and  devotion.     We  must  show 


RACE   AND   RELIGIOUS   PREJUDICE  49 

them  that  religion  is  elementally  and  fundamentally 
the  consecration  and  devotion  of  life  to  service,  not  a 
selfish  scheme  for  ferrying  the  soul  across  into  a  haven 
of  safety.  We  must  feed  them  on  ideals  of  service. 
We  must  put  them  in  the  atmosphere  of  self -forgetful 
goodness.  We  must  exhibit  religion  as  the  consum- 
mate flower  of  a  good  life. 


EDUCATING  OUR  YOUTH  AWAY  FROM  RACE 
AND  RELIGIOUS  PREJUDICE 

RABBI  DAVID  PHILIPSON,  D.  D., 

B'NE   ISRAEL  CONGREGATION,   CINCINNATI,   O. 

Prejudices  are  among  the  most  stubborn  of  realities. 
Whithersoever  we  turn  we  encounter  them.  Men  are 
bom  with  prejudices,  men  acquire  prejudices,  men 
have  prejudices  thrust  upon  them.  Prejudices  are 
usually  unreasonable,  and  for  the  very  reason  of  their 
unreason  are  so  difficult  to  counteract  and  eradicate. 
The  old  doggerel:  "I  do  not  like  you.  Dr.  Fell,  the 
reason  why  I  cannot  tell, "  expresses  in  homely  fashion 
the  gist  of  the  whole  matter.  It  would  seem  that  the 
further  men  advance  along  the  highway  of  cul- 
ture and  civilization,  the  more  would  prejudices  of  all 
kinds  disappear.  Yet  in  the  experience  of  mankind 
this  has  not  proved  the  case.  These  opening  years  of 
the  twentieth  century  supposably  record  the  high 
water  mark  of  human  achievement  in  all  lines  of  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  endeavor,  and  yet  there  has 
never  been  an  age  in  all  the  history  of  the  world  when 
society  has  been  more  honey-combed  with  prejudices 
of  all  kinds,  national,  religious,  racial  and  social,  than 
the  present.  Prejudices  continue  to  erect  the  most 
impassable  barriers  between  man  and  man.  In  truth, 
we  appear  to  be  living  in  the  midst  of  a  serious  reac- 


50     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

tion.  The  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  found 
men  fired  with  the  dreams  of  universal  brotherhood 
and  the  approaching  advent  of  the  golden  age  of  peace. 
The  first  of  the  world's  expositions,  that  held  at  the 
Crystal  Palace  in  1851,  was  hailed  as  the  sign  patent 
of  the  near  realization  of  human  brotherhood.  Poets 
sang  of  the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the 
world.  Thousands,  yes,  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men,  in  a  generous  glow  of  enthusiasm,  offered  their 
lives  on  the  altar  of  the  black  man's  freedom.  Schol- 
ars brought  to  the  notice  of  their  f ellowmen  the  thoughts 
of  far-away  peoples  in  the  distant  orient  whose  wise 
men  uttered  words  so  similiar  in  intent  and  even  ex- 
pression to  the  choicest  ideas  of  the  sages  of  the  west, 
that  the  essential  similarity  of  man  to  man,  though 
physically  separated  by  leagues  of  material  space,  was 
clearly  demonstrated.  The  so-called  science  of  com- 
parative religions  accentuated  the  resemblances  among 
the  most  distant  peoples.  All  these  achievements 
emphasize  the  God-made  resemblances  that  should 
unite  men  to  one  another  and  minimize  the  man-made 
differences  that  do  separate  them  from  one  another. 
Thus  it  seemed  that  a  tremendous  advance  forward 
had  been  made  ia  the  removal  of  the  hates  and  prej- 
udices that  blacken  the  life-story  of  men  and  nations. 
But  the  closing  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century 
brought  a  rude  awakening  to  those  who  were  indulging 
in  such  dreams.  Never  before  was  the  doctrine  of 
race  so  strongly  preached,  never  before  was  the  gospel 
of  nationality  so  strongly  urged.  Saxon  against 
Slav,  Teuton  against  Gaul,  Aryan  against  Semite, 
Occidental  against  Oriental,  white  race  against  yel- 
low race,  these  have  become  the  favorite  watch- 
words of  world-politics.  In  the  religious  field,  too, 
there  are  similar  appearances;  prejudice  of  Christian 
against  Jew,  animosity  of  Protestant  towards  Cath- 


RACE  AND   RELIGIOUS   PREJUDICE  51 

olic,  hatred  of  Mohammedan  against  unbeliever,  these, 
too,  are  seemingly  as  pronotmced  as  ever.  Gusts  of 
prejudice  so  startling  in  their  intensity  have  swept 
over  various  sections  of  society  in  different  portions 
of  the  world  that  we  have  been  brought  to  a  sickening 
realization  of  how  far  we  are  from  having  achieved  the 
laureate's  hope  — 

"  Till  each  man  find  his  own  in  all  men's  good. 
And  all  men  work  in  noble  brotherhood." 

Here  then  are  the  facts.  The  dreams  of  the  speedy 
realization  of  human  brotherhood  indulged  in  by  the 
idealists  of  the  generation  now  behind  us  have  been 
shattered.  Shall  we,  therefore,  lose  hope  and  renounce 
the  visions  of  universal  peace  and  good  wHl?  Be- 
cause of  these  reactionary  influences  which  appear  to 
be  in  the  ascendant  at  present,  shall  we  despair  and 
surrender  the  most  glorious  heritage  that  has  descended 
to  us  from  the  inspired  prophets  and  seers  of  the  hu- 
man race  of  a  united  mankind  in  the  name  of  the  One 
God,  the  Universal  Father?  There  are  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  noble-minded  men  and  women  in  the 
world  who  will  answer  these  questions  with  a  decided 
negative.  Despite  the  fierceness  of  racial  antagonisms, 
national  antipathies,  and  religious  prejudices,  such 
pin  their  faith  to  the  gradual  conquest  of  these  forces 
by  the  hosts  of  education  and  enlightenment.  Can 
these  prejudices  and  antipathies  be  overcome  by  edu- 
cation? This  is  what  we  are  here  to  consider.  As 
educators,  and  notably  as  religious  educators,  we  have 
no  duty  greater  than  this,  to  eradicate  from  our  charges 
all  hatred  and  prejudice,  and  all  to  work  together  to 
realize  the  high  ideal  so  sublimely  expressed  by  the 
great  man  whose  life  work  is  being  commemorated  this 
week  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land 
in  the  unforgettable  words:  " Charity  towards  all  and 
malice  towards  none." 


52     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

Here  in  the  United  States  the  opportunity  for  the 
realization  of  such  a  program  is  such  as  has  never  been 
offered  to  men  anywhere  before.  Hither  have  come 
men  of  all  races  and  religions.  Into  this  great  seeth- 
ing pot  of  Americanism,  unnumbered  national,  racial, 
and  religious  elements  are  being  thrown.  A  tremen- 
dous experiment  is  being  tried  here.  In  this  amalgam 
of  Americanism  into  which  so  many  ingredients  are 
being  fused,  what  of  prejudice  and  antagonism  ?  Are 
these  disappearing  or  are  they  continuing?  Certain 
to  my  mind  it  is  that  they  must  disappear  if  the  Ameri- 
can ideal  is  to  be  realized.  Never  was  a  truer  word 
spoken  than  that  uttered  by  the  great  American 
reformer,  the  broad-minded,  high-souled  George  Wil- 
liam Curtis:  "There  is  no  safety,  no  guarantee,  no 
security  in  a  prejudice.  If  we  wotild  build  strong  and 
long  we  must  build  upon  moral  principles."  Men  are 
too  much  concerned  with  their  own  interpretation  of 
the  truth.  This  causes  prejudice  and  makes  for  di- 
vision. Right  it  is  for  a  man  to  be  attached  fervently 
to  the  view  of  the  truth  as  he  sees  it,  but  wrong  it  is 
if  that  view  point  of  his  makes  him  so  narrow  that 
he  will  not  grant  that  there  may  be  other  aspects  of 
the  truth  besides  his  own.  Ostensibly  by  its  teach- 
ing of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  religion  is  the  great 
unifier  among  men ;  if  God  be  the  Father  of  all  men, 
as  the  religions  which  claim  to  be  universal  faiths 
teach,  then  are  all  men  brothers,  being  children  of  one 
father;  and  all  men  being  brothers,  sentiments  of 
brotherhood  should  unite  them  in  the  name  of  their 
common  Father.  This  the  theory ;  but  the  actuality, 
oh!  how  different!  With  the  fatherhood  of  God  on 
their  lips,  religions  have  persecuted  the  children  of 
this  Father  because,  forsooth,  they  approached  the 
Father  in  different  manner  and  with  different  words. 
Christianity  taught  that  there  was  no  salvation  ex- 


RACE  AND   RELIGIOUS   PREJUDICE  53 

cept  through  belief  in  the  atoning  blood  of  the  Chris- 
tion  Savior,  The  resultant  doctrine  was  that  all  such 
as  did  not  accept  the  Christ  could  not  be  saved. 
Hence,  all  non-believers  are  lost  and  without  the  pale 
of  Grod's  mercy.  There  has  been  no  greater  breeder 
of  prejudice  and  hatred  than  these  doctrines  of  exclu- 
sive salvation  put  forth  by  the  various  separate  faiths 
of  the  world.  In  the  western  world,  wherewith  we 
are  especially  concerned,  it  set  Catholic  against  Prot- 
estant, and  Christian  against  Jew;  it  arrayed  Trini- 
tarian against  Unitarian,  and  religionist  against 
Agnostic.  Religion,  instead  of  uniting,  divided.  And 
what  an  opportunity  it  has  missed!  This  indicates 
one  direction  in  which  our  youth  can  be  educated  away 
from  religious  prejudice.  We  need  not  be  less  loyal 
to  the  truth  as  we  see  it  and  we  believe  it,  but  we  can 
and  should  be,  at  the  same  time,  mindful  of  the  rights 
of  others  to  be  faithful  to  the  truth  as  they  see  it  and 
they  believe  it.  Let  in  our  Sunday  schools  the  thought 
of  God's  all-fatherhood  be  constantly  impressed,  let 
the  growing  youth  be  taught  in  season  and  out  of 
season  that  even  though  others  differ  with  us  in  be- 
lief, they  are  our  brethren;  that  God  has  revealed 
himself  in  many  ways,  that  Christian  and  Jew  and 
Mohammedan  and  pagan  are  God's  children.  Let 
the  high  thoughts  expressed  by  the  prophets  and  poets 
of  the  human  race  on  imiversal  brotherhood  be  ex- 
potmded  and  learned,  thoughts  like  Lessing's : 

'  Are  Christian  and  Jew 
Such  before  they  are  men  ?     Oh,  that  I 
Had  found  in  you  another  whom  it 
Sufficed  to  be  called  man;  " 

or  Emerson's : 

"And  each  shall  care  for  other 
And  each  to  each  shall  bend, 
To  the  poor  a  noble  brother. 
To  the  good  an  equal  friend;  " 


54     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

or  Lowell's: 

"Where'er  a  human  heart  doth  wear 
Joy's  myrtle  wreath  or  sorrow's  gyves, 
Where'er  a  human  spirit  strives 
After  a  life  more  true  and  fair, 
There  is  the  true  man's  birthplace  grand ; 
His  is  a  world-wide  fatherland;  " 

or  Browning's : 

"  Say  not,  *It  matters  not  to  me ; 
My  brother's  weal  is  his  behoof ; ' 
For  in  this  wondrous  human  web 
If  your  life's  warp,  his  life  is  woof ;  " 

or  Carlyle's: 

"  True  men,  of  all  creeds,  it  would  seem,  are  brothers." 

Such  and  similar  sentiments  culled  from  the  writ- 
ings of  earth's  greatest  cannot  but  impress  the  adoles- 
cent mind  with  the  thought  that  prejudice  of  every 
kind  is  treason  to  God,  the  all-Father,  and  to  the  all- 
inclusive  humanity  whereof  we  form  a  part.  Such 
teaching  must  leave  its  mark  to  the  effect  that,  in 
spite  of  human  differences  of  birth,  belief,  station, 
habit,  and  thought,  "our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven," 
is  the  Father  of  high  and  low,  of  white  and  black,  of 
bond  and  free,  of  American  and  European,  of  Chris- 
tian and  Jew. 

I  will  be  pardoned  if  I  dwell  at  some  length  upon 
the  manifestation  of  religious  prejudice  as  apparent 
in  the  attitude  of  Christians  towards  Jews,  for  this  is 
the  most  flagrant  instance  of  religious  prejudice  among 
us.  That  such  prejudice  exists,  it  were  futile  to  deny. 
Examples  of  its  ubiquity  could  be  given  by  the  score. 
A  most  intelligent  English  observer  has  been  writing 
recently  to  the  London  Times  his  impressions  of  New 
York  Jewry.  Although  not  a  Jew,  his  attitude  is  fair 
and  sympathetic.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he 
writes,   "Evidence  of  a  vast  prejudice  abounds  on 


RACE   AND   RELIGIOUS   PREJUDICE  55 

every  hand.  '  Do  you  think  that  I  would,  go  and  hear 
a  Sheeny  talk?'  an  American,  whom  I  had  not  sup- 
posed to  be  illiberal,  asked  me,  not  without  scorn, 
when  I  suggested  that  he  should  come  with  me  to  a 
reformed  synagogue  to  hear  a  famous  Rabbi  preach. 
....  A  professor,  with  whom  I  once  discussed  the 
racial  problem,  has  a  daughter  who  came  home  in 
tears  complaining  that  her  companions  had  charged 
her  with  '  crucifying  their  Lord ;'  it  then  dawned  upon 
the  sensitive  soul  of  the  child  that,  although  alike  in 
heart  and  life  and  longing  to  her  playmates,  she  was 
shut  out  forever  from  their  world  by  a  veil  which  even 
her  father,  for  all  his  fame,  could  neither  tear  down  nor 
creep  through."  Hundreds  of  similar  experiences 
can  be  cited.  Jews  of  the  highest  culture,  most  ex- 
quisite manners,  and  rarest  charm  are  encountering 
this  same  prejudice  constantly.  Is  there  no  remedy 
for  this  inhuman  sentiment?  Is  there  no  possibility 
of  educating  the  Christian  youth  away  from  it?  I 
have  always  felt  that  Christian  pulpits  and  Sunday 
schools  are  much  to  blame  for  the  existence  and  con- 
tinuance in  the  world  of  anti- Jewish  prejudice  and  I 
believe  that  the  remedy  for  this  crying  injustice  lies 
largely  with  Christian  pastors  and  Sunday-school 
teachers.  The  Christian  child,  from  its  earliest  years, 
is  taught  to  look  upon  the  Jews  as  the  enemies  of  the 
Lord  Christ,  it  is  taught  that  him  the  Jews  crucified, 
that  having  rejected  him  as  the  Savior,  the  Jews  are 
lost  and  damned  to  eternity.  Yes,  one  might  almost 
say  that  the  Christian  child  sucks  in  these  sentiments 
with  its  mother's  milk.  Such  influences  of  home  and 
school  are  difficult  to  overcome.  The  Christian  child 
growing  into  manhood  and  womanhood  remains 
imder  the  spell  of  these  early  influences  and  even 
though  he  may  meet  and  know  hundreds  of  Jews  of 
the   highest   character,    the   prejudice   remains  —  the 


56     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

prejudice  "solid  as  the  pyramids,  subtle  as  the  echo 
of  an  echo." 

Now,  I  will  not  address  myself  to  the  task  of  show- 
ing that  it  was  not  the  Jews  who  crucified  Jesus,  but 
the  Romans,  nor  will  I  enter  into  an  investigation  of 
the  truth  or  the  legendary  character  of  the  miraculous 
elements  wherewith  the  Christian  beginnings  are 
shrouded,  nor  yet  will  I  dwell  upon  the  indebtedness 
of  Christianity  to  Judaism,  which  should  make  for 
gratitude  and  not  for  hatred,  much  as  I  should  like  to 
do  so,  but  this  is  not  my  special  purpose  to-day.  The 
question  is,  how  can  this  prejudice  which  is  thus  a  part 
of  Christian  training  in  church  and  Siuiday  school 
be  overcome?  As  the  Christian  pulpit  and  Sunday 
school,  in  many  instances  unwittingly  and  uninten- 
tionally, I  am  willing  to  grant,  have  been  active  agents 
of  the  anti- Jewish  propanganda  which  have  resulted 
in  wide-spread  prejudice,  even  so  can  they,  if  they  will, 
become  the  most  efficient  influences  in  counteracting 
this  prejudice  and  disseminating  the  gospel  of  peace 
and  good-will  which  their  Savior  came  to  preach. 
Let  pastor  and  Sunday-school  teacher  dwell  occasion- 
ally on  the  facts  that  Jesus  and  the  apostles  were 
Jews,  that  Jesus  obtained  his  training  in  Jewish 
schools,  that  he  preached  in  synagogues;  let  the  Jew- 
ish origin  of  Christianity  be  acknowledged;  let  the 
intimate  connection  between  many  Christian  and 
Jewish  teachings  be  set  forth.  Preacher  and  teacher 
need  not  extol  the  beauty  and  glory  of  Christian  truth 
the  less;  they  can  continue  to  show  the  superiority 
of  Christianity  as  the  highest  revelation  of  the  divine 
spirit,  as  is  right  and  natural  for  them,  from  their 
standpoint,  to  do ;  but  they  can  also  take  pains  to  im- 
press their  pupils  and  hearers  that  even  though  Jews 
and  other  imbelievers  are  not  basking  in  the  light  of 
Christianity,    they   are   still    God's   children.     When, 


RACE   AND  '  RELIGIOUS   PREJUDICE  57 

in  my  Sunday  school,  for  example,  the  story  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  and  the  rise  of  Christianity  are  taught, 
this  is  done  in  a  thoroughly  sympathetic  spirit.  The 
points  of  difference  between  Judaism  and  Christianity 
in  the  matter  of  Messianic  belief  are  dwelt  upon,  with 
the  stress  laid,  of  course,  upon  the  superiority  of  the 
Jewish  conception,  but  at  the  same  time  the  children 
are  impressed  with  the  thought  that  Christians  and 
Jews  alike  are  children  of  the  eternal  Father,  that, 
although  we  differ  in  religious  opinions  from  our 
Christian  neighbors,  we  are  all  united  by  the  bond  of 
human  brotherhood.  If,  in  the  Christian  Interna- 
tional Sunday-school  lessons  such  teachings  would 
be  the  theme  from  time  to  time,  the  greatest  step 
forward  imaginable  in  educating  the  youth  away  from 
religious  prejudice  would  be  taken.  After  all,  relig- 
ion should  be  the  tie  that  binds,  not  the  influence  that 
disrupts.  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  great  ma- 
jority of  men  and  women  in  this  western  world. 
Upon  this  great  majority  rests  the  responsibility  of 
spreading  the  reign  of  humanity  and  peace.  When 
Christian  pulpit  and  Sunday  school  and  home  will 
take  pains  to  make  clear  that  despite  all  that  has 
taken  place  and  despite  differences  in  belief  "a  Jew's 
a  man  for  all  that,"  this  most  constant  of  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  religious  prejudice  amongst  us  will  begin 
to  pale  its  effectual  fires  and  a  telling  victory  will  have 
been  won  in  the  struggle  of  the  spirit  of  love  and  hu- 
manity with  the  forces  of  hatred  and  ill-will. 

Many  see  in  the  promiscuous  population  that  is 
peopling  our  cities  and  towns,  a  menace  of  future  dan- 
gers. I  believe  that  this  American  people,  through 
the  amalgamation  and  assimilation  of  all  these  var- 
ious strains  and  tendencies,  is  fulfilling  its  high  mission 
of  becoming  the  truly  representative  cosmopolitan 
nation  of  this  sublunar  sphere.     But  that  in  the  pro- 


58     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

cess  of  the  amalgation  and  assimilation  we  are  passing 
through  grave  difficulties  and  serious  problems,  there 
can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  And  one  of  the  gravest 
and  most  serious  of  these  phenomena  is  the  narrow- 
ness of  spirit  which,  in  an  earlier  day,  produced  the 
Know  Nothing  movement,  which,  at  the  present  time 
aims  to  restrict  worthy  immigration  and  which  at  all 
times  has  found  expression  in  race  prejudice.  This 
prejudice  has  coined  derogatory  epithets  by  which 
Germans  have  been  stigmatized  as  the  Dutch,  Italians 
as  dagos,  Irishmen  as  Micks,  and  so  forth.  The  prox- 
imity of  all  these  various  races  has  aroused  antago- 
nisms and  prejudices.  Disgraceful  incidents  are  con- 
stantly taking  place  in  cities  and  towns  where  young 
America  enacts  the  role  of  tormentor  of  these  deni- 
zens of  strange  climes  who  have  come  to  seek  a  home 
on  these  shores.  Is  there  any  efficacious  way  in 
which  our  young  can  be  educated  away  from  this  race 
prejudice  and  this  Know  Nothing  spirit?  Undoubt- 
edly there  is.  Public  schools  and  Sunday  schools  can 
do  much  towards  eradicating  these  sentiments  and 
emphasizing  the  likeness  of  all  men,  no  matter  what 
their  race  or  nationality  or  previous  condition.  In 
our  schools,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  let  the  destiny 
of  America  as  the  melting  pot  of  the  races  and  nations 
be  dwelt  upon.  Let  impressive  examples  be  given  of 
what  men  of  foreign  birth  and  various  races  have  done 
for  this  land,  how,  in  the  great  crises  of  the  country's 
history,  German  and  native  American,  Italian  and 
Irishman,  white  and  black.  Christian  and  Jew,  all 
men  of  all  races,  colors,  and  creeds  have  stood  shoulder 
to  shoulder  for  the  country's  welfare.  Then  in  quar- 
ters where  any  special  form  of  prejudice  is  likely  to 
manifest  itself  against  any  special  class  or  race,  let 
educators  make  it  a  point  to  impart  to  their  charges 
practical  illustrations  of    great  things  accomplished 


RACE   AND    RELIGIOUS   PREJUDICE  59 

by  the  special  class  against  whom  the  prejudice  is 
directed.  In  an  anti-Italian  neighborhood, .  let  ex- 
amples from  the  glorious  achievements  of  Italians  in 
aU  lines  of  human  endeavor  be  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  growing  generation;  so  in  anti-Irish,  anti- 
Hungarian,  anti-German,  anti-Chinese,  anti-Japanese 
environments.  The  only  way  to  effectually  dissipate 
the  darkness  is  to  let  in  the  light.  The  only  way  to 
overcome  prejudice  of  any  sort  is  by  positive  instruc- 
tion, setting  forth  the  fine  traits  of  achievement  and 
aspiration  on  the  part  of  those  against  whom  preju- 
dice is  rife,  because  of  differences  of  birth,  belief,  lan- 
guage, custom,  appearance,  or  what  not. 

The  most  discouraging  symptom  in  the  political 
life  of  Europe  during  the  past  quarter-century  has 
been  the  recrudescence  of  racial  antagonsims  and  na- 
tional antipathies.  In  this  country,  too,  this  vicious 
tendency  has  been  more  or  less  in  evidence.  The 
skirts  of  the  American  people  are  by  no  means  clear. 
Reactionaries  who  preach  the  evil  tidings  of  race  pre- 
judice, and  who  disseminate  the  un-American  doctrine 
of  class  prejudice  are  multiplying  amongst  us,  I  fear. 
Against  all  such  untoward  appearances,  we  who  would 
aim  to  be  educators,  notably  religious  educators,  must 
set  our  face  like  steel.  Whatever  be  our  specific 
differences  of  belief,  or  outlook,  we  can  and  must  teach 
that  higher  unity  which  binds  all  men  in  those  aspira- 
tions and  endeavors  that  are  subsumed  under  the  lofty 
title  "humanity."  As  Americans,  this  must  be  our 
highest  article  of  faith ;  as  religious  teachers  who  place 
the  fatherhood  of  God  at  the  summit  of  our  thought, 
this  must  be  our  supreme  test.  As  Americans,  we 
say  to  the  promoters  of  prejudice,  whether  religious 
or  racial,  of  every  kind,  in  the  eloquent  words  of  Carl 
Shurz,  spoken  at  the  time  when  the  Know  Nothing 
excitement  was  at  its  height:    "Where  is  the  faith 


6o     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

that  led  the  fathers  of  this  RepubHc  to  invite  the 
weary  and  burdened  of  all  nations  to  the  enjoyment 
of  equal  rights?  Where  is  that  broad  and  gener- 
ous confidence  in  the  efficiency  of  true  democratic 
institutions?  Has  the  present  generation  forgotten 
that  true  democracy  bears  in  itself  the  remedy  for  all 
the  difficulties  that  may  grow  out  of  it?"  As  men, 
we  repeat  the  query  of  the  ancient  prophet.  "Have 
we  not  all  one  Father?  has  not  one  God  created  us?" 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND  THE  MORAL  LIFE 
OF  THE  NATION 

RABBI   MOSES  J.   GRIES  t 

THE     TEMPLE,    CLEVELAND,    OHIO 

h^  |More  than  forty  years  have  passed  since  the  death 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  One  year  from  this  night  the 
American  nation  will  celebrate  the  one  hundreth 
anniversary  of  his  birth.  He  was  the  greatest  man 
whom  the  Republic  has  produced  —  one  of  the  few 
truly  great  of  all  history. 

In  my  boy's  room  at  home  hangs  a  picture  of  the 
rude  log  cabin,  which  was  the  birth-place  of  Lincoln. 
What  one  of  us  was  bom  in  a  home  so  poor  and  under 
conditions  of  life  so  lowly? 

Wonderful  is  the  story  of  his  wonderful  life.  Bom 
of  humblest  parentage  —  a  poor  farmer's  son  —  a  flat- 
boatman,  a  rail  splitter,  a  country  clerk,  a  country 
lawyer,  then.  President  of  the  United  States.  His 
life  story  teaches  the  most  impressive  lesson  in  the 
history  of  America.  It  reveals  the  possibility  of  the 
poor  in  a  democracy.  Understand  what  he  was  as  a 
man  —  understand  Lincoln  as  President.  Behold  him 
on  the  day  of  his  death,  know  what  he  accomplished, 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  6i 

know  him  as  the  saviour  of  the  Union,  the  emanci- 
pator of  milHons. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  the  son  of  poverty,  ranks  above 
kings  and  emperors.  Therefore,  the  day  of  his  birth 
is  eloquent  with  the  prophetic  promise  of  his  life.  It 
speaks  the  message  of  hope  to  all  of  America  and  to 
all  of  the  oppressed  of  the  world. 

Lincoln's  name  will  forever  be  associated  with  the 
idea  of  human  liberty.  Minds  there  are  which  have 
not  yet  grasped  the  fundamental  truth  that  human 
liberty  must  be  liberty,  not  alone  for  us,  but  liberty  for 
all.  Liberty  does  not  mean  liberty  for  the  white,  and, 
not  slavery,  but  lesser  liberty  to  the  black  and  the 
brown  and  the  yellow  peoples.  It  does  not  mean  free- 
dom and  authority  for  the  supreme  and  the  masterful 
races  and  subjection  and  slavery  for  the  inferior  races 
of  the  earth. 

In  America  slavery  persisted  in  contradiction  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  In  i860,  just  before  the 
Civil  War,  there  were  3,954,000  slaves  in  the  United 
States.  Liberty  meant  freedom  for  the  whites  and 
slavery  for  the  blacks,  until  the  hour  of  emancipation. 
Never  again  will  the  philosopher  plead  that  slavery 
is  natural  and  just,  as  in  the  ancient  republic  of  Plato. 
Never  again  will  a  minister  of  God  declare  that  slavery 
is  divinely  appointed,  as  in  the  modem  republic  of 
America.  Liberty  is  necessary  to  human  happiness. 
None  doubts  to-day  all  men  must  be  free.  It  is  in- 
justice when  man  is  not  free.  History  has  vindi- 
cated the  wisdom  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  On  his  way  to 
Washington  in  1861,  standing  in  old  Independence 
Hall  and  interpreting  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
he  declared  it  "gave  liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people 
of  this  country,  but  hope  to  all  the  world,  for  all  future 
time." 

Therefore,  America  feels  such  profound  sympathy 


62     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

with  the  oppressed  millions  of  Russia.  The  sympathy 
of  America  is  always  with  the  people  oppressed  and  not 
with  the  tyrant  rulers.  There  can  be  no  true  friend- 
ship between  democracy  and  despotism.  America 
believes  in  freedom  —  in  the  inborn  right  of  man.  It 
does  not  believe  in  oppression  nor  in  the  divine  right 
of  kings.  Who  of  us  believes  that  the  Czar  of  Russia 
is  God's  chosen  representative  to  rule  millions  of  men  ? 
America  offers  welcome  to  the  unfortunate  victims  of 
injustice  and  oppression.  America  will  not  close  her 
portals  against  the  hunted  and  the  persecuted.  Let 
Russia  shut  her  gates  and  let  the  nations  of  the  earth 
compel  her  to  do  justice  and  to  establish  peace  within 
them. 

The  Russian  peasantry  are  struggling  now,  fighting 
the  age-old  battle  for  human  freedom.  Millions  are 
dreaming  of  liberties  and  pleading  for  human  rights 
we  hold  to  be  natural  and  inborn.  Russia  cannot  be 
half  free  and  half  serf  —  half  nobility  and  half  peasan- 
try. Lincoln's  historic  declaration  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  government 
cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free. 
I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it 
will  cease  to  be  divided"  —  has  proven  true  for  Amer- 
ica. It  will  prove  itself  true  for  Russia.  Russia  must 
grant  freedom  to  live  and  to  toil  —  free  speech  and  free 
press  and  free  education  to  her  people.  It  will  prove 
itself  true  for  the  world.  The  time  will  come  when 
the  world  will  not  be  half  free  and  half  slave  —  when 
no  human  being  will  be  in  bondage  anywhere. 

We  are  all  freemen.  This  nation,  thank  God,  is 
free.  Our  land  is  a  land  consecrated  to  liberty.  Let 
us  hold  America  to  her  historic  ideals,  that  she  shall 
ever  be  the  land  of  freedom  and  the  home  of  justice. 

A  generation  ago  great  questions  gripped  the  con- 
science and  the  heart  of  the  people.     What  is  the  great 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  63 

question  of  our  generation?  It  is  whether  we  shall 
be  half  slave  and  half  free  —  half  slave  and  half  free 
politically,  half  slave  and  half  free  industrially,  half 
slave  and  half  free  commercially,  half  slave  and  half 
free  morally.  Politically,  whether  the  bosses  or  the 
people  shall  rule  in  the  city  and  the  state  and  the  nation ; 
industrially,  whether  the  trusts  and  the  corporations 
or  the  government  shall  be  supreme;  commercially, 
whether  the  privileged  few  or  the  people  shall  control 
the  necessities  of  life ;  morally,  whether  there  shall  be 
a  double  standard  of  morals,  one  for  the  private  and 
another  for  the  public  life,  one  for  the  rich  and  power- 
ful and  another  for  the  poor  and  weak,  one  standard 
for  the  man  and  another  standard  for  the  woman. 

I  conceive  the  problems  of  this  nation,  as  I  believe 
does  the  courageous  President  of  these  United  States, 
as  problems  of  moral  right  and  moral  wrong.  As 
individuals  let  us  not  hesitate,  let  us  declare  honestly 
where  we  stand.  In  the  spirit  of  Lincoln,  in  his 
famous  Cooper- Institute  address,  "Let  us  have  faith 
that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to 
the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. " 

Lincoln's  life  is  a  mighty  protest  against  a  false 
aristocracy.  We  need  here  in  America  an  American 
Thackeray  to  write  a  new  "Book  of  Snobs,"  fitly  to 
portray,  with  Thackeray's  pen  and  Thackeray's  power, 
the  aristocracy  of  wealth  —  of  the  newly  rich,  glori- 
fying itself  in  what  should  be  a  democracy  of  the  poor. 
How  many  there  are  who  believe  that  riches  is  the 
greatest  prize  to  be  won  in  the  battle  of  life. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  never  rich.  Always  he  be- 
longed to  the  common  people.  He  was  worth  but  a 
few  thousand  dollars  when  he  became  president. 
Who  were  the  rich  men  of  Lincoln's  day?  Who  were 
the  men  who  ruled  the  exchanges?  Who  were  the 
kings   of  the   market  places  ?      All   are   forgotten  — 


64     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

buried  in  the  oblivion  of  the  past.  False  are  the  old 
distinctions  of  my  lords  and  my  ladies.  False  the  idea 
of  the  noble  bom.  I  am  reminded  of  Lincoln's  an- 
swer to  the  Austrian  count,  who  recited  his  long  lin- 
eage and  noble  ancestry  and  desired  a  commission  in 
the  army.  Said  Lincoln, ' '  I  will  see  to  it  that  your  bear- 
ing a  title  shan't  hurt  you."  It  is  not  how  a  man  is 
bom,  of  what  ancestry  and  of  what  parentage,  whether 
he  be  bom  patrician  or  plebeian,  in  a  palace  of  the  capi- 
tal, or  in  a  log  cabin  in  the  woods.  Heart  and  soul 
and  mind  make  men  what  they  really  are.  Character 
distinguishes  the  true  aristocrat.  Castellane  is  one  of 
the  noblest  names  in  France.  Count  or  no  count,  we 
take  his  true  measure  and  know  him  to  be  not  noble, 
but  ignoble.  To  the  true  aristocracy  of  character, 
the  poorest  and  the  humblest  may  belong. 

Lincoln  was  bom  the  child  of  poverty.  Kings  and 
emperors  and  czars  die  and  leave  no  memorial  behind, 
but  the  whole  world  treasures  the  life  and  reveres  the 
memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  world  loves  the 
name  of  Lincoln.  As  a  man  he  measured  more  than 
kings. 

For  me  there  is  power  in  the  story  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  rude  log  cabin  in  old  Kentucky  of  almost 
a  century  ago  proclaims  a  message  to  mankind  more 
powerful  than  do  the  palaces  of  Europe.  The  historic 
palaces  and  historic  castles  of  Europe  and  of  all  the  Old 
World  are  symbolic  of  glory  and  splendor  that  are  no 
more.  They  are  eloquent  of  royal  pomp  and  royal 
power.  Their  message  is  of  despair  and  decline  and 
death  and  decay.  The  little  log  cabin  is  symbolic, 
not  of  glory  nor  yet  of  splendor,  eloquent  not  of  pomp 
nor  of  power,  but  it  proclaims  the  message  of  life  and 
growth,  and  not  of  death  and  decay.  It  speaks  the 
message  of  hope  to  all  the  millions  of  the  world. 

It  is  a  familiar  tale,  often  told.     Often  quoted  are 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  65 

the  thoughts  of  Lincoln.  We  may  speak  them  again 
with  new  interpretation  and  proclaim  with  new  em- 
phasis the  words  of  the  Gettysburg  address,  one  of  the 
classics  of  the  English  tongue.  It  contains  a  message 
to  all  America,  in  every  generation: 

"But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  —  we 
cannot  consecrate  —  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground. 
The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here, 
have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add 
or  detract It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedi- 
cated to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us  —  that  from 
these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  de- 
votion; that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this  nation,  imder 
God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  gov- 
ernment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people, 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

The  life  story  of  Lincoln  renews  our  faith  in  demo- 
cracy. It  gives  us  new  trust  in  the  people  and  in  the 
government  of  the  people.  Let  us  remember  his 
name  with  honor.  His  character  is  an  inspiration  to 
us  all.  He  was  a  great  man,  strong  and  tender,  yet 
just  and  merciful.  Entrusted  with  the  supreme  power 
of  life  and  death,  he  did  not  abuse  his  power,  he  did 
not  fail.  How  true  the  tribute  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
president  of  the  Confederacy,  spoken  ten  years  after 
the  war  — "  Next  to  the  destruction  of  the  Confederacy, 
the  death  of  Lincoln  was  the  darkest  day  the  South 
has  ever  known."  Magnificent  the  tribute  of  the 
distinguished  English  ambassador  to  America,  the 
Honorable  James  Bryce  —  "If  American  institutions 
had  done  nothing  else  than  produce  the  character  of 
Lincoln,  they  would  have  justified  their  right  to  be." 
And  our  own  President  Roosevelt,  years  ago  wrote 
in  his  "American  Ideals" —  "Every  American  is  richer 
by  the  heritage  of  the  noble  deeds  and  the  noble  words 
of  Washington  and  Lincoln. 


66     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERSHIP  IN  SOCIAL  BETTER- 
MENT 

GEORGE  B.  STEWART,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

PRESIDENT    AUBURN    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY,    AUBURN,    N.    Y. 

My  thesis  is  that  the  forces  for  the  social  better- 
ment need  the  leadership  of  religious  men,  and  that 
the  proper  place  for  religion  is  at  the  head  of  all  the 
forces  making  for  betterment. 

I.    RELIGION  IS  A  GREAT  SOCIAL   FORCE  AND  MAKES  FOR  BETTERMENT 

1.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  that  essentially 
religion  is  a  social  force,  even  in  its  lowest  forms.  It 
lifts  the  individual  out  of  himself,  and  brings  him  into 
relations,  more  or  less  clearly  apprehended,  with  his 
feUow  man. 

2.  One  of  the  most  pronounced  restdts  of  religion 
is  the  socialization  of  life,  Man  is  a  religious  animal 
and  he  is  a  social  animal,  and  it  might  not  be  a  difficult 
task  to  show  that  he  is  the  latter,  largely  because  he  is 
the  former.  It  certainly  is  obvious  that  the  religious 
advance  of  mankind  is  marked  by  a  corresponding 
social  advance.  The  higher  the  form  of  religion  the 
keener  becomes  the  social  pressure  and  the  wider  be- 
comes the  social  horizon.  If  any  one  is  disposed  to 
deny,  as  I  am  not,  that  this  socialization  of  life  is  due  to 
religion,  he  must  reckon  with  the  obvious  fact  that  the 
advance  in  religion  has  as  its  chief  characteristic  the 
socialization  of  religion  itself. 

3.  This  great  social  force,  religion,  makes  for  bet- 
terment. The  history  of  religion  is  the  history  of  the 
progress  of  mankind.  It  may  be,  in  fact  it  has  been 
all  too  often,  that  in  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  and 
designing  men,  or  through  the  influence  of  irreligious 
partners  in  some  unholy  alliance,   religion  has  been  an 


RELIGIOUS   LEADERSHIP  67 

instrument  for  the  injury  of  men  and  their  debasement. 
Much  has  been  done  in  the  name  of  reHgion,  for  which 
it  ought  not  to  be  held  responsible.  Its  beautiful  livery- 
has  been  a  fine  disguise  for  the  powers  of  evil,  and  some- 
times this  heaven-bom  servant  of  men  has  itself  been 
seduced  from  its  noble  office  and  prostituted  to  some 
ignoble  end.  Even  so,  yet  these  lapses  are  marked  by 
recoveries,  and  it  remains  true  that  the  progress  of 
religion  has  resulted  in  the  elevation  of  life  to  a  higher 
plane  and  in  the  increase  of  its  health  and  treasure. 

4.  Religion  is  the  most  valuable  social  asset  of 
mankind.  Neither  in  this  age  nor  in  any  other  can  there 
be  found  a  social  force  more  pervasive,  more  potent, 
more  beneficent  than  religion.  Indeed,  it  is  a  de- 
fensible, yes,  a  demonstrable,  proposition,  that  it 
excels  in  these  respects  all  other  social  forces  combined, 
and  that  society  could  better  dispense  with  all  other 
forces  and  their  agencies  than  with  religion  and  its 
agencies.  Even  in  this  day,  when  there  are  so  many 
social  forces  making  for  betterment,  which  are  so 
potent  and  so  effective  and  which  are  not  obviously  al- 
lied with  religion,  which  are  often  professedly  non-reli- 
gious, religion  still  remains  a  great  social  power.  If  it 
be  a  decadent  power,  a  spent  force,  as  some  would  have 
us  believe,  then  we  are  witnessing  the  passing  of  the 
mightiest  social  force  men  have  known  and  used  for  their 
advancement.  The  best  light  in  the  world  is  going  out. 
I  do  not  so  read  the  signs  of  the  times.  Just  as  in  all 
the  great  social  movements  of  the  world,  the  great 
social  crises  in  the  history  of  nations,  those  that  marked 
the  distinct  advance  of  a  nation  and  of  mankind  were 
characterized  by  a  revival  of  the  dominance  of  pure 
religion,  those  that  marked  the  relapse  and  faU  of  a 
nation  and  mankind  were  characterized  by  the  decay 
of  the  power  of  pure  religion,  so  in  this  day,  the  social 
changes   will    have    the   same    characterization.     If 


68     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

the  light  be  going  out,  our  society  will  soon  be  walking 
in  darkness.  But  if  the  light  be  shining  with  greater 
brilliance,  as  I  verily  believe  it  is,  then  society  is  to  see 
more  clearly  than  ever  before  its  way  to  the  yet  un- 
reached heights  toward  which  it  is  journeying. 


II.    THE   PRESENT   SOCIAL   FORCES    ARE    PREDOMINANTLY 

RELIGIOUS 

I.  Many  of  these  forces  are  confessedly  religious. 
A  mere  catalogue  of  the  social  efforts  of  the  christian 
churches,  not  to  mention  other  religious  bodies  in  this 
country,  would  occupy  more  time  than  we  could  spare, 
and,  incomplete  as  it  would  inevitably  be,  it  would 
still  be  so  long  as  to  surprise  even  those  who  now  think 
they  know  what  the  church  is  doing  in  this  respect. 
For  example : 

(i)  Note  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  sermons 
every  Sunday  that  are  by  every  consideration  forces 
in  the  interest  of  social  betterment. 

(2)  Note  the  many  tens  of  thousands  of  young 
people's  societies,  Sunday  schools,  men's  organiza- 
tions, women's  organizations,  for  instruction,  for 
training,  for  relief  among  the  young,  the  poor,  the 
ignorant. 

(3)  Note  the  missionary  activities  of  the  church 
and,  in  view  of  Dr.  Dennis's  magnum  opus,  "Christian 
Missions  and  Social  Progress,"  evaluate  the  influence 
of  the  christian  church  on  the  social  progress  of  the 
world. 

(4)  Note  the  organization  of  the  church  for  the 
distribution  of  the  Bible,  the  most  influential  social 
book  yet  issued,  for  work  among  special  classes  of  men, 
such  as  seamen,  for  promoting  great  sociological  re- 
forms, such  as  temperance. 

(5)  Note    the    htmdreds    of    churches,    like    St. 


RELIGIOUS   LEADERSHIP  69 

George's,  St.  Bartholomew's,  Judson  Memorial,  and 
Spring  Street  churches  in  New  York,  that  as  churches 
are  doing  distinctly  social  service  work  of  a  particular 
type. 

(6)  Note  the  fact  that  in  the  country,  the  village, 
and  the  small  city  the  church  represents  and  ex- 
presses, not  only  the  best,  but  the  sole  organized 
social  forces  that  are  making  for  betterment. 

(7)  Note  the  large  array  of  organizations  for  social 
betterment,  such  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  which  confess 
themselves  to  be  preeminently  and  predominantly 
religious. 

The  significance  of  these  facts  is  that,  if  you  were  to 
withdraw  from  this  land  those  organized  social  forces 
making  for  betterment  that  are  distinctly  religious  and 
are  identified  with  the  church,  the  remaining  organ- 
ized social  forces  would  in  the  vast  majority  of  our 
communities  be  nil,  and  in  the  balance  of  those  com- 
munities be  almost  a  negligible  quantity. 

2.  The  present  social  forces,  organized  and  un- 
organized, which  are  not  confessedly  religious,  are 
nevertheless  indebted  to  religion  for  many  of  their 
ideals,  ideas,  and  motive  power.  The  fact  that  the 
movements  for  social  betterment  are  to  be  fotmd  in 
distinctly  christian  countries,  and  are  found  in  the 
most  virile  form  where  Christianity  is  most  vigorous 
and  produces  its  best  fruit,  justifies  the  statement  that 
these  movements  are  part  of  the  fruit  of  this  religion. 
The  outer  edge  of  our  religion's  garment,  like  that  of 
our  Master's  is  charged  with  power  for  the  healing  of 
men.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  various  non-religious  organ- 
izations and  efforts  for  the  relief  of  the  ills  of  society 
would  have  come  into  being  but  for  the  great  creative 
power  of  our  religion,  nor  could  they  continue  to  exist, 
if  the  cooperation  and  financial  support  of  professedly 
religious  men  were  withdrawn.     They  are  a  by-product 


70    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

of  religion  and  owe  to  religion  what  they  are  and  are 
able  to  do. 

3.  The  present  social  unrest  is,  to  a  large  degree, 
the  product  of  religious  teaching  and  inspiration. 

The  leaven  of  religion  works  with  agitating  and 
transforming  power.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
there  is  any  greater  unsettling  force  than  religion.  Its 
chief  fimction  is  to  produce  a  discontent  with  evil  con- 
ditions and  unrighteous  conduct .  Illegitimate  business , 
oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich,  of  the  weak  by  the 
strong,  injustices,  cruelties,  are  assailed  by  religion  in  its 
best  estate,  and  they  tremble  upon  their  foundations 
before  its  assaults.  It  breathes  hope  into  men  that  are 
down  that  they  may  rise,  men  that  are  beaten  that 
they  may  win.  ^Vhen  once  men  have  heard  its  voice 
and  caught  its  vision,  they  cannot  remain  satisfied 
with  themselves  or  their  condition.  They  are  restless 
and  their  restlessness  often  overturns  conditions  that 
are  in  the  interest  of  things  that  ought  to  be. 

This  hurried  glance  at  the  present  state  of  society 
shows  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  social  forces  are  in- 
tershot  and  dominated  by  the  religious  forces. 


III.      THE    SOCIAL    FORCES    NOW    MAKING    FOR    BETTER- 
MENT    WITHOUT     RELIGIOUS     LEADERSHIP     LOSE 
THEIR  EFFICIENCY,  AND  IN  MANY  CASES 
BECOME  A  MENACE. 

I.  This  is  evident  when  we  consider  the  elements 
that  religion  contributes  to  the  social  forces. 

(i).  It  contributes  the  conserving  influences  that 
make  for  stability  and  order.  Many  of  the  social 
forces  are  radical  and  are  impatient  of  the  restraint  and 
the  love  for  restraint  in  the  interest  of  order  and  law, 
which  religion  inculcates.  This  impatience  betrays  a 
basal  weakness  in  even  the  most  serious  and  earnest 


RELIGIOUS   LEADERSHIP  71 

efforts  toward  social  improvement.  They  quicldy 
run  into  license  and  disorder,  which  make  them  ineffect- 
ive. Many  a  reform  movement  lies  a  wreck  by  the  path 
of  history  because  of  this  lack  of  the  steadying  influ- 
ence of  religion.  All  social  progress  to  be  real  and  per- 
manent must  have  this  conserving  regard  for  law  and 
order  which  organized  religion  supplies. 

(2).  It  contributes  sanity.  Who  that  is  familiar 
with  movements  for  reforming  the  evils  of  society  can 
doubt  that  one  of  their  most  imminent  dangers  is  to  fly 
the  track  ?  This  is  not  surprising  in  view  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  evils  and  the  frightful  havoc  they  are 
working  among  men.  Who  can  face  up  to  the  evils  of 
intemperance,  or  the  evils  of  the  present  industrial  sys- 
tem, without  feeling  that  he  must  hold  on  to  himself 
or  he  will  surely  be  rash  and  hot-headed.  Yet,  if 
these  evils  are  to  be  effectively  dealt  with,  they  must 
be  sanely  dealt  with. 

The  religion  of  the  Bible  supplies  this  poise  and 
sanity.  It  teaches  those  great  facts  in  the  unfolding 
of  the  divine  providence  in  the  affairs  of  men,  which 
steady  us  and  make  us  calm  in  the  stress  and 
strain  of  the  conflict.  A  passion  for  righteousness  may 
easily  pass  over  into  a  passionate  and  ill-considered  on- 
slaught against  the  forces  of  iniquity.  Alas !  too  often 
in  our  hot  zeal  we  beat  our  breasts  against  the  gates 
of  some  brazen  iniquity  to  no  purpose,  when,  if  we  had 
been  wise  as  well  as  earnest  we  might  have  captured 
the  stronghold  of  evil.* 

(3).  It  contributes  the  element  of  self-sacrifice. 
The  social  forces  are,  to  a  large  degree,  selfish,  for  their 
tendencies  are  toward  self-preservation.  But  there 
is  no  more  noteworthy  lesson  of  history  than  the  self- 

*Dr  Shailer  Mathews  in  his  most  admirable  book,  "The  Church 
and  the  Changing  Order,"  calls  attention  to  these  two  contribu- 
tions of  religion. 


72     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

destructive  power  of  selfishness  in  the  state  or  individ- 
ual.    To  live  to  one's  self  is  to  die. 

Religion,  in  introducing  the  principle  of  self-denial 
and  sacrifice,  brings  into  the  social  order  the  one  regen- 
erative power  that  can  arrest  and  correct  the  destruct- 
ive forces. 

Benjamin  Kidd  in  his  "Social  Evolution"  has  force- 
fully set  forth  the  saving  power  of  self-sacrifice.  No 
social  order  is  safe  without  it.  None  can  have  it  in  as 
high  degree  without  religion  as  with  it. 

The  social  forces  left  to  themselves  by  religion  cannot 
come  to  their  own,  but  are  doomed  to  the  conflict  and 
destruction  inevitable  to  self -centered  interests. 


IV.       THIS     RELIGIOUS      LEADERSHIP     MUST     BE     WISE 
LEADERSHIP. 

In  thus  pressing  religion's  claim  for  the  first  place 
among  the  social  forces,  I  have  not  been  unmindful  of 
much  that  might  be  said  on  the  other  side.  Much  of 
the  opposition  to  religious  leadership  in  this  sphere  is 
due  to  the  mistakes  and  shortcomings  of  the  represent- 
atives of  religion.  By  their  folly,  their  lack  of  zeal  for 
worthy  causes,  and  their  excess  of  zeal  for  unworthy 
ones,  they  have  forfeited  their  right  to  leadership. 
Where  they  have  been  eliminated  from  the  social  forces 
that  are  making  for  betterment,  they  have  themselves, 
or  their  fellow-religionists,  largely  to  blame.  I  can 
now  make  only  a  few  specifications  and  these  in  the 
briefest  possible  way. 

I.    Denominationalism  may  not  be  always  religious. 

Denominationalism  is  divisive.  It  arrays  the  friends 
of  religion  against  each  other  and  opens  the  door  to  all 
sorts  of  misunderstanding  among  them,  and  of  them 
by  others.  Much  of  the  objection  to  religious  leader- 
ship in  social  service  is  in  reality  objection  to  denom- 


RELIGIOUS   LEADERSHIP  73 

inationalism,  or,  at  all  events,  is  due  to  the  existence 
of  denominationalism.  It  is  difficult  for  church  people, 
to  say  nothing  of  non-churchmen,  to  distinguish  be- 
tween religion  and  their  denomination.  This  con- 
fusion leads  the  churchman  to  mistake  his  church  zeal 
for  religious  zeal,  and  the  enemy  of  the  church  to  ex- 
press his  hostiHty  to  it  in  opposition  to  religion. 

2.  Religious  organizations  must  be  open-eyed  to 
the  problem. 

Many  religious  men,  either  through  indolence  or  a 
false  view  concerning  the  social  function  of  the  church, 
are  indifferent  to  the  social  problems  of  the  day.  The 
church  may  not  stand  aloof  from  the  world's  great 
seething  life,  and,  in  a  fancied  independence,  profess 
exemption  from  seeking  to  save  society.  Social  prob- 
lems are  its  problems.  They  are  difficult,  delicate, 
imperative.  They  cannot  be  passed  by  and  left  to  one 
side.  They  must  be  courageously  faced  and  frankly 
dealt  with.  The  church  has  come  to  the  kingdom  for 
such  a  time  as  this.     It  must  not  flinch  nor  fail. 

' '  To  doubt  would  be  disloyalty, 
To  falter  would  be  sin." 

3.  Religious  organizations  must  be  open-handed 
and  open-hearted  toward  other  workers  in  this  field. 

The  intolerance  of  religionists  is  as  common  an  error 
as  their  independence.  They  are  all  too  impatient  of 
difference  and  uncharitable  toward  dissent,  and 
hence  their  aloofness  from  much  social  work.  Church- 
men must  learn  to  work  with  greater  unity  among 
themselves  and  a  larger  spirit  of  co-operation  with  non- 
churchmen.  They  must  be  willing  to  allow  any  man 
to  work  by  their  side,  even  though  he  does  not  pro- 
nounce their  shibboleth  or  subscribe  to  their  creed. 
They  must  be  eager  to  join  the  tremendous  social 
power  of  the  church  with  all  the  other  forces  of  the 


74     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

community  that  are  making  for  betterment.  Unity, 
harmony,  co-operation,  are  words  to  conjure  with  in  this 
work  for  the  upHft  of  our  fellows.  The  church  should 
rejoice  to  be  foremost  in  the  chorus  of  voices  that  are 
uttering  them.  The  christian's  Master  ought  to  have 
taught  him  that  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us,  and, 
under  the  inspiration  of  that  teaching  he  ought  to  be 
drawing  to  his  aid  in  the  work  of  salvation  all,  and  there 
are  many,  who  are  willing  to  help. 

4.  Religious  organizations  must  be  alert  to  this 
social  service.  The  church  must  be  on  its  job.  It 
is  a  job  of  tremendous  magnitude.  It  is  big,  too  big 
for  one  church  or  one  denomination  to  manage  alone.  If 
the  church's  doctrine  concerning  itself  is  to  be  accepted, 
then  it  serves  a  most  important  function  toward 
society.  No  human  interest  is  beneath  its  notice,  no 
human  concern  shall  be  allowed  to  drift  beyond  its 
love  and  care.  Its  very  life  is  for  the  world  of  human 
affairs.  It  is  here  to  serve  and  save.  It,  like  its 
Master,  is  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister 
and  to  give  its  life  a  ransom  for  many.  It  is  not  an 
end  in  itself,  but  a  means  toward  an  end. 

But  this  is  just  what  is  too  often  overlooked.  In 
the  pitiful  rivalry  among  the  churches,  and  the  painful 
struggle  for  existence  which  most  of  them  have  to  main- 
tain, there  is  sore  peril  that  the  church  will  forget  its 
high  mission,  neglect  its  trust,  and  expend  its  fair 
inheritance  upon  itself.  It  must  hear  the  cries  of 
perishing  humanity  —  the  children  crying  for  bread, 
women  sobbing  under  man's  slavery,  men  breathing 
out  hate  because  of  injustice,  cruelty  and  iniquity  — 
it  must  forget  itself  and  run  to  their  relief.  The  heaven- 
ly Father's  children  are  perishing,  and  the  church  must 
be  about  its  one  great  task  of  saving  them.  It  must 
be  more  concerned  in  building  up  the  people,  and  so  it 
may  be  indifferent  about  building  up  itself;     The  chief- 


THE   SOCIAL  SETTLEMENT  75 

taincy  of  service  is,  after  all,  the  chieftaincy  that  the 
church  may  most  properly  covet.  This  is  the  pre- 
eminence that  may  most  easily  become  its  own  and 
most  adorn  it. 

In  conclusion,  religious  leadership,  after  all,  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  wisdom  and  activity  of  religious 
people.  Whether  religion  is  to  dominate  the  market, 
the  home,  the  forum;  whether  the  struggle  of  men 
upward  from  poverty,  vice,  crime,  oppression,  adverse 
conditions,  and  degrading  surroimdings,  is  to  be  guided 
and  made  effective  by  religion ;  whether  the  multitude 
of  social  agencies  are  to  be  kept  sane  and  serviceable 
for  the  highest  social  welfare  through  the  influence  of 
religion  —  all  depends  upon  the  people  who  profess 
religion  and  believe  in  its  uplifting  and  saving  power. 

Further,  as  religion  is  a  permanent  element  in  man 
and  in  society,  it  will  by  virtue  of  its  inherent  worth 
and  capacity  for  leadership,  hold  the  first  place  among 
the  saving  forces  of  the  world.  There  may  be  periods 
which  mark  the  ebbing  of  its  power,  but  they  are 
transient  and  are  certainly  to  be  followed,  as  they 
have  always  been  followed,  by  a  flood  tide  of  honor 
and  influence.  In  its  hand  are  the  hidings  of  power, 
and  it  is  always  certain  to  come  to  its  own.  Its  own 
is  the  first  place  in  honor,  in  influence,  in  efficiency. 


THE  SOCIAL  SETTLEMENT  AND  THE  RELIG- 
IOUS   EDUCATION    OF   THE    PEOPLE 

E.  STAGG  WHITIN 

COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY,    NEW    YORK,    N.    Y. 

This  afternoon  we  must  locate  settlement  work  in 
the  great  field  of  social  and  fraternal  service  of  which 
it  is  a  vital  part,  show  the  movements  in  which  it  had 
its  rise,  and  whither  it  is  tending. 


76     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

All  recent  social  discussion  begins  with  the  indus- 
trial revolution  —  where  the  effects  that  the  change 
from  handwork  to  machinery  produced  and  is  still  pro- 
ducing on  the  great  institutions  of  the  family,  the 
church,  the  vocation,  and  the  state  become  evident. 

The  Waning  of  Family  Life.  The  most  ancient 
institution,  and  the  most  sacred  —  the  family  —  had 
been  undergoing  a  very  decided  change  previous  to 
the  industrial  revolution,  but  most  pronounced  after 
that  period.  The  movement  to  the  city  or  mill  town, 
which  was  the  result  of  that  revolution,  has  tended 
to  produce  conditions  adverse  to  the  family  as  an  insti- 
tution for  controlling  the  underlying  forces  of  society. 
The  crowding  of  people  into  the  tenements  and  apart- 
ment houses  has  destroyed  much  of  the  privacy  of 
family  life.  The  removal  of  the  work  of  a  parent,  and 
often  of  both  parents  from  the  household  to  the  great 
factory,  where  they  are  confined  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  day,  or  what  is  worse  the  turning  of  the  home  into 
the  sweat  shop,  has  destroyed  that  personal  contact 
between  the  members  of  the  family,  thus  breaking 
down  the  forces  that  aim  to  establish  family  ties 
together  with  the  moral  training  and  education  of 
children.  The  education  in  letters  and  morals,  nay, 
even  in  things  domestic  and  hygienic,  has  been  dele- 
gated to  the  school  and  settlement.  There  is  to-day 
a  strong  tendency  towards  the  transfer  of  the  domestic 
operations  to  the  restaurant  in  both  poor  and  rich  dis- 
tricts ;  the  washing  to  the  laundry,  sewing  to  the  tailors, 
the  pleasant,  simple,  home  amusements  have  been  sup- 
plemented by  the  theatres  and  music  halls,  and  the 
personal  friendships  to  the  social  clubs  or  the  saloon. 
Thus,  the  social  forces  developing  from  the  family  have 
tended  to  become  less  and  less  in  proportion  to  the 
accumulation  of  the  great  material  wealth  which  the 
industrial  revolution  has  brought  us. 


THE   SOCIAL   SETTLEMENT  77 

The  Vocation.  Like  the  family,  the  vocation  has 
changed  from  the  "helpful"  or  educational  to  the  ser- 
vant type  of  work  —  the  man  (including  the  woman 
and  child  worker)  has  become  either  a  highly  special- 
ized machine  doing  one  minute  operation  with  little 
or  no  vital  social  connection  with  anything  else,  or 
what  is  still  worse,  an  automatic  lever  working  a  great 
machine  which  in  many  cases  is  unintelligible  to  the 
operative.  The  great  immigration,  the  accumulation 
of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  tlie  introduction  of  a 
more  highly  specialized  type  of  machinery  has  divorced 
the  consumer  from  the  producer,  and  the  operator  from 
the  operative.  For  many  the  joys  of  the  work  day 
have  become  the  sorrows  of  the  "long  day,"  and  the 
vocational  inspiration  of  progress  has  become  in  many 
cases  a  stolid  endurance  of  present  conditions  without 
complaint. 

The  Church.  On  all  sides  it  is  freely  admitted  that 
the  power  of  the  "old  church"  is  waning  despite  its 
brave  attempt  to  come  to  the  succor  of  the  family  and 
even  the  vocation.  Divorced  from  the  new  church, 
the  supplementary  institutions  which  are  grouped 
about  it  keeping  it  in  touch  with  the  social  forces  of  the 
day,  where  would  it  stand?  If  we  question  its  power 
to-day,  what  of  to-morrow? 

Even  the  State,  which  in  a  way  seems  to  have  gained 
in  power,  if  we  look  closely,  has  been  threatened  by  the 
result  of  the  industrial  revolution;  the  great  accumu- 
lation of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  the  improper 
use  of  that  wealth. 

The  changes  in  the  family,  vocation,  church,  and 
state  naturally  affect  the  weaker  members  of  the  com- 
munity first,  because  they  are  not  free  in  their  time  and 
means  for  supplementing  deficiencies  of  home  and  the 
vocation,  or  for  fully  participating  in  the  church  or 
state.    The  spirit  of  fraternal  love,  which  is  always  pres- 


78     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

ent  in  society,  naturally  rouses  the  stronger  to  the  aid  of 
the  weaker,  thus  resulting  in  the  rise  of  innumerable  in- 
stitutions, such  as  missions,  refuges,  relief  agencies,  free 
schools  and  settlements,  etc.  What  has  been  the  move- 
ment in  these  institutions  ?  Individual  effort  has  al- 
ways been  the  starting  point  for  such  institutions,  and 
thus,  individuals  more  fortunate  than  their  fellows,  in 
the  vicarious  spirit,  sought  to  change  for  the  better  the 
prevailing  conditions.  All  were  animated  by  the  spirit 
of  the  common  good,  and  the  desire  to  better  the  con- 
ditions of  their  fellow  men  and  to  prepare  them  for  a 
better  time  to  come.  They  naturally  turned  to  the  im- 
mediate conditions  that  confronted  them,  and  sought 
by  personal  preaching  and  tracts  to  improve  the  condi- 
tions of  the  less  fortunate. 

The  movement  of  these  institutions,  such  as  moral 
missions,  the  Salvation  Army,  relief  societies,  reforma- 
tories, has  been  so  extended  and  rapid  that  it  is  difficult 
to  define  their  relation  and  bearing,  one  to  the  other, 
and  with  those  less  well-defined  institutions.  They 
have  wrought  a  change  in  the  institution  of  the  church. 
The  old  historic  church,  which  had  been  the  economic 
center  of  the  village  life  during  the  feudal  times,  and 
has  been  the  gathering  place  for  the  Puritan  town 
meeting  for  many  years  in  this  country,  took  on  a  new 
lease  of  life.  To  its  services  and  prayer  meetings, 
Simday  school,  almoners,  visitations,  fairs  and  bazaars, 
and  missionary  activities  for  the  salvation  of  other 
lands,  it  added  new  societies  for  its  young  men,  ladies' 
auxiliaries,  brigades,  and  clubs  for  its  boys. 

The  Institutional  Church.  The  institutional  church, 
with  its  new  activities,  could  hardly  be  content  in  the 
single  structure  with  its  white  steeple.  The  needs  of 
the  community  were  uppermost  in  its  mind,  and  the 
building  was  constructed  with  gymnasium  and  baths, 
swimming  pools  and  creches,  industrial  shops  and  sew- 


THE   SOCIAL   SETTLEMENT  79 

ing  rooms,  and  cooking  rooms,  resident  halls,  club  and 
billiard  rooms  within  the  walls  which  boimded  the 
sanctuary.  A  separation  in  locality  followed  in  many 
churches  in  which  the  activities  of  the  mission  or  social 
type  were  provided,  not  for  the  members  of  the  home 
church,  but  for  an  entirely  different  community,  who, 
p  aying  little  or  nothing  for  them ,  en  j  oyed  the  full  benefits . 

Church  House.  This  separation  allowed  more  fully 
the  social  organization  of  the  mission  church,  including 
all  the  neighborhood  within  its  scope,  divorcing  religion 
or  religious  participation  from  the  requisites  of  active 
participation  in  the  pleasures  and  activity  of  the  insti- 
tution itself.  Thus  the  establishment  of  the  church 
house  as  a  center  of  neighborhood  activity. 

The  Settlement.  This  same  spirit  for  common 
brotherhood  and  the  common  good  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  another  movement,  so  joined  with  this  of 
the  church  house  that  they  cannot  be  disassociated  in 
their  origin.  A  layman  named  Toynbee  went  to  live 
with  a  priest,  struggling  with  the  problems  of  a  London 
neighborhood,  and  from  their  joint  work  rose  the  great 
English  settlement  movement.  This  movement  ex- 
tended to  the  United  States,  where  were  founded  the 
University  Settlement,  Hull  House,  and  other  college 
settlements  of  the  country.  These  people,  animated 
by  the  spirit  of  the  church,  but  without  its  sanction  or 
support,  taking  up  their  abode  in  the  poor  neighbor- 
hoods, exemplifying  the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  opened 
their  homes  to  all  their  neighbors. 

Neighborhood  House.  The  demand  becoming 
greater,  accomodation  became  inadequate  in  one  small 
house,  so  several  houses  were  joined  together,  as  one 
sees  them  in  many  settlement  buildings  to-day.  Grad- 
ually these  structiu'es  proved  as  inadequate  as  the  old 
church  structures  to  contain  the  new  activities  which 
had  been  organized. 


8o     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER      - 

The  Institutional  Settlement..  The  classes  and  clubs, 
the  university  extension  lectures,  the  physical  educa- 
tional requirements  of  the  people,  demanded  a  new 
type  of  structure  and  form  of  organization.  Great 
buildings  were  constructed  to  accomodate  activities, 
gymnasiums,  balls,  libraries,  lecture  halls,  dance  halls, 
club  rooms,  industrial  plants,  legal  aid  work,  dairies, 
nurseries,  hospitals,  dormitories,  etc.  But  even  these 
have  not  been  enough  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  the  com- 
munity. The  settlements  have  quietly  extended  their 
bounds  and  activities  until  they  have  reached  within 
the  walls  of  the  public  schools  of  the  district.  Once 
within  the  precincts  of  another  institution  the  settle- 
ments rebel  against  paying  for  the  support  of  work 
under  joint  auspices ;  thus  the  public  school,  which  has 
been  the  residuary  legatee  of  so  many  other  insti- 
tutions, again  began  to  play  the  part  which  has  char- 
acterized it  throughout  its  history.  Those  interested 
in  the  institutional  church,  having  found  their  facili- 
ties inadequate  for  the  social  needs  of  the  neighbor- 
hoods, have  demanded  that  the  city  support  their 
clubs.  Likewise  the  churches  carrying  on  large  edu- 
cational plants  look  to  the  city  to  support  and  super- 
vise their  work.  The  reply  has  been  that  the  city 
itself  is  conducting  this  work  in  the  public  schools  and 
will  be  glad  to  adapt  this  work  still  more  to  the  needs 
of  all  the  people. 

The  Public  School.  Early  in  the  struggle  to  ameli- 
orate conditions,  the  public  school,  aided  by  organiza- 
tions of  the  citizens  to  encourage  such  work,  took  upon 
itself  the  responsibility  for  the  training  of  the  poor 
child  without  remuneration,  and  slowly  through  many 
vicissitudes  was  organized  into  one  strong  institution 
with  a  recognized  relation  to  the  state  and  with  separate 
controlling  organizations.  The  mission  of  the  public 
school  seemed  definitely  confined  to  the  child  over 


THE   SOCIAL   SETTLEMENT  8i 

which  it  had  legal  control  to  the  foiirteenth  or  the  six- 
teenth year  and  limited  to  the  producing  of  social  effi- 
ciency amongst  those  members  below  that  age  during 
"school  hours." 

The  Social  School  in  New  York  City.  A  new  social 
philosophy,  based  upon  the  democratic  ideal,  has 
brought  about  a  revolution  in  the  spirit  and  the  aim 
of  the  school  and  at  the  same  time  the  introduction 
or  what  might  seem  to  be  foreign  to  its  avowed  purpose, 
social  education  for  old  and  young  covering  all  the 
waking  hours  of  the  day.  The  newer  social  school, 
as  we  see  it  in  New  York  and  elsewhere  today,  with  its 
kindergarten  and  recitation  rooms,  club  work,  gym- 
nastics, recreation  center,  baths,  library,  adult  public 
education  through  lectures,  summer  schools,  roof 
playgrounds,  school  gardens,  mothers'  clubs,  probation 
work,  schoolship,  shops,  kitchens,  restaurants,  special 
class  for  feeble  minds  and  delinquents,  dance  halls,' 
and  even  study  rooms,  is,  if  you  will  look  carefully, 
the  school  with  a  settlement  attachment,  duplicating 
the  settlement  in  all  but  its  personal  work,  and  the 
church  house  or  parochial  school  in  all  but  its  distinctly 
religious  work.  The  public  school  has  become  an 
institution  which  stands  as  a  center  for  a  neighborhood 
life,  having  at  least  as  an  ideal  the  family  as  its  definite 
school  unit,  and  vitalizing  most  of  the  forces  which  are 
found  about  it  in  the  neighborhood.  Its  aim,  as  the 
aim  of  other  moral  institutions,  is  that  of  the  common 
good,  but  it  is  more  constructive  than  any  other.  We 
may  say  that  a  school  is  a  part  of  the  community, 
organized  so  that  the  more  mature  may  aid  the  less 
mature  to  bring  themselves  as  members  of  the  com- 
munity into  greater  harmony  with  their  material  and 
spiritual  environment.  The  mission  of  such  a  social 
school  is  the  training  of  the  individuals  among  its  mem- 
bers to  go  out  into  other  fields  of  activity,  whatever  they 


82     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

may  be,  and  to  extend  the  limits  of  the  common  good 
to  all  mankind.  Thus  the  New  York  public  school  is 
working  out  for  all  classes  of  all  ages,  is  vitalizing  the 
tenement  home,  pointing  toward  the  religious  life  of  the 
church,  providing  the  incentive  which  the  occupations 
lack  on  account  of  the  introduction  of  machinery  and 
modem  specialization,  and  unifying  or  socializing  the 
man  as  a  member  of  the  state  and  of  the  nation. 

In  the  rapid  survey  of  this  field,  probably  in  your 
minds  there  has  arisen  the  question  — what  is  the 
religious  significance  of  this  social  field  and  how  can  it 
be  made  more  religious  ?  It  is  all  religious  in  a  broad 
sense;  but  can  it  be  made  more  so?  Many  of  the 
social  workers  are  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  love ;  they 
give  up  home  and  friends  to  become  a  living  sacrifice 
in  answer  to  the  command  "Follow  Me."  But  in 
the  losing  of  the  life  it  soon  appears  that  the  life  has 
really  been  found,  and  life  itself  has  become  more 
abimdant.  Such  neighborhood  workers  find  that  they 
are  holding,  almost  imknown  to  themselves,  a  confes- 
sional "for  the  heart  that  is  troubled  with  many 
things."  The  little  children  are  suffered  to  come,  and 
they  are  not  forbidden,  "for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven."  Without  asking  the  creed  or  dogma 
they  teach  we  may  stand  in  silent  awe  in  the  presence 
of  consecrated  lives,  lives  in  which  there  is  incarnate 
to-day  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  --  their  very  presence 
is  religious  education. 

Such  a  development  in  the  soul  and  life  of  the  per- 
sonal workers  must  find  response  in  more  definite 
preaching  of  the  message  it  has  to  bring.  So  it  is  that 
we  find  in  the  social  work  to-day  a  growing  desire  to 
make  more  definite  the  outward  and  visible  expression 
of  this  inward  conviction.  In  many  commimities  the 
familiar  rituals  or  ceremonies  of  the  churches  have  been 
found  to  satisfactorily  meet  all  the  needs;   in  others. 


THE   SOCIAL   SETTLEMENT  83 

the  differing  theological  doctrines  and  ceremonial 
differences  have  made  thoughtful  men  hesitate  before 
adopting  any  device  to  fill  the  need.  In  one  settlement 
a  fraternal  organization  has  been  conducted  for  some 
years  on  such  broad  lines  of  brotherhood  that  no 
offence  possibly  could  be  taken  by  the  ecclesiastical 
masters  and  pastors.  In  another,  a  Christian  theo- 
logical settlement,  there  are  planned  joint  ethical  ser- 
vices with  the  Jewish  communal  house,  which  is  in  the 
same  community.  But  still  in  many  city  commiinities 
the  attempt  to  inject  a  formal  religious  service  of  no 
matter  what  form  into  the  settlement  or  school  life 
has  proved  impossible.  Into  this  breach  there  must 
come  in  our  larger  cities  some  broad  scheme  that  will 
meet  the  emergency.  Probably  in  no  city  is  the  situ- 
ation more  complicated  than  in  New  York.  Fortunate 
is  that  city  to-day  in  having  assembled  at  the  Hotel 
Astor  a  group  of  representative  men,  representing  all 
the  religious,  social,  and  ethical  forces  of  that  great 
city,  and  organizing  themselves  into  a  so-called  Social 
Ethical  League  which  will  fill  this  breach.  Its  purpose 
is  "to  unite  the  forces  within  and  without  the  church 
in  a  fellowship  of  service  for  the  social  and  ethical 
betterment  of  the  community."  Its  work  will  be 
two-fold.  First,  the  bringing  of  the  inspired  teachers 
of  the  country  to  the  platform  at  Cooper  Union  and 
certain  of  the  settlements,  or  other  places  of  meeting, 
where  large  numbers  of  the  people  can  listen  to  the 
addresses  and  in  their  turn  ask  pertinent  questions. 
On  these  platforms  of  ' '  mutual  lecturing ' '  the  speaker 
as  well  as  the  audience  will  be  educated. 

Finally,  what  can  we  expect  from  this  union  of  the 
social  and  the  spiritual  ?  Already  the  socialism  of  the 
day  is  taking  on  a  spiritiial  aspect  and  the  church  is 
groping  toward  a  more  democratic  expression  of  itself. 
Can  it  be  that  materialistic  socialists  may  see  in  the 


84     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

common  good  the  spiritual  life  of  man,  and  the  church 
discern  in  the  common  good  the  democracy  of  the 
church  ?  If  the  social  work  of  the  last  quarter-century 
has  done  anything  to  bring  about  this  union  —  in  the 
Republic  of  God  —  it  deserves  the  name  of  religious 
education. 


THE   SOCIAL  SERVICE  OF  COLLEGE  STU- 
DENTS FOR  CHILDREN 

MILTON  G.  EVANS,  D.  D. 

PROFESSOR   CROZER    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY,    CHESTER,    PA. 

The  sower,  the  seed,  the  soil!  These  are  the  factors 
in  the  social  problem.  The  obvious  fact  is  becoming 
more  fully  recognized  that  it  matters  little  how  efficient 
the  sower,  or  how  perfect  the  seed,  there  can  be  no  har- 
vest unless  environment  promotes  germination  and 
growth.  Likewise,  the  church  is  reverting  to  the 
simple  procedure  of  its  Foimder.  It  is  looking  at 
facts;  and  it  has  found  the  earth,  the  common  earth, 
to  be  the  most  hopeful  field  for  experiment.  Why  not? 
Listen  again  to  the  parable  of  The  Sower.  ' '  Behold, 
the  sower  went  forth  to  sow.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as 
he  sowed,  a  part  fell  by  the  wayside,  and  the  birds 
came  and  devoured  it.  And  another  part  fell  on  the 
rocky  ground,  where  it  had  not  much  earth;  and 
straightway  it  sprang  up,  because  it  had  no  depth  of 
earth.  And  when  the  sun  rose,  it  was  scorched;  and 
because  it  had  no  root,  it  withered  away.  And  an- 
other part  fell  among  the  thorns ;  and  the  thorns  came 
up  and  choked  it,  and  it  yielded  no  fruit.  And  another 
part  fell  into  the  good  ground  and  yielded  fruit  that 
came  up  and  grew,  and  bore  thirty-fold,  and  sixty-fold, 
and  a  hundred-fold." 

The  teacher  had  good  reason  to  add :  ' '  He  that  has 


THE   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF   STUDENTS        85 

ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear ; "  for  hearers  have  been  slow 
to  learn  that  He  meant  to  teach  that  the  establishment 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth  is  conditioned  quite 
as  much  upon  the  character  of  the  soil  as  upon  his  own 
efficiency  as  sower,  or  upon  the  inherent  worth  of 
his  word  as  truth.  In  fact  both  teacher  and  truth  are 
powerless  when  the  taught  are  not  receptive.  *  *  And 
He  was  not  able  to  do  any  miracle  there,  except  that 
He  laid  His  hands  on  a  few  sick  people  and  healed 
them.     And  He  wondered  because  of  their  tmbelief." 

Jesus  always  accounted  for  human  unwillingness  to 
accept  His  message  by  appeal  to  facts  of  environment 
and  training.  Some  of  His  hearers  were  wholly  inca- 
pable of  receiving  His  words,  because  their  moral  sensi- 
bilities had  been  deadened  by  habitual  indifference  to 
moral  obligations ;  others  deemed  His  teaching  of  little 
value,  because  they  were  pre-occupied  by  legitimate 
business  and  social  cares;  others  could  not  appreciate 
the  new  good  promised,  because  they  were  chained  by 
conservatism  to  the  good  of  the  past;  others  judged 
values  in  terms  of  material  wealth,  and  hence  could 
not  estimate  aright  the  value  of  the  kingdom;  and 
others  were  hindered  from  acquiring  poverty  of  spirit 
by  having  acquired  pride  and  haughtiness  and  self- 
complacency. 

The  factor,  then,  in  the  religious  problem  that  de- 
mands special  attention  is  that  which  conditions  recep- 
tivity. Bring  the  truth  to  human  hearts  before  ex- 
periences have  beaten  them  hard,  or  have  sown  deeply 
anxieties  of  life  and  desires  for  things  that  profit  not. 
Herein  lies  the  ministry  of  the  home,  the  primary 
school,  and  every  institution  that  deals  with  child-life. 
To  this  problem  the  church  is  directing  its  energies  as 
never  before,  and  in  consequence  is  entering  upon  the 
most  promising  period  of  its  history.  To  many  the 
simple  truism  that  the  rescue  of  the  child  is  the  rescue 


86     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

of  society  is  coming  with  the  force  of  a  new  revelation ; 
and  every  agency  that  promises  social  improvement 
of  conditions  where  children  are  gathered  will  receive 
support.  This  is  the  reason  that  the  Vacation-School 
movement  has  won  instant  recognition.  Its  methods 
and  aims  and  results  are  at  once  missionary  and  edu- 
cative. The  children  reached  are  those  of  foreigners 
who  throng  our  great  commercial  and  industrial 
centers. 

They  will  soon  affect  for  good  or  ill  every  phase  of 
our  national  life ;  and  the  simple  problem  is  to  supply 
deficiencies  in  proper  home  training  and  to  supplement 
the  work  of  the  school  and  the  church.  The  easy  solu- 
tion is  to  take  advantage  of  existing  favorable  condi- 
tions, to  co-ordinate  forces  already  operative  in  our 
social  structiu"e. 

First,  the  children  are  accessible.  They  throng  the 
streets;  they  have  no  place  of  recreation;  they  have 
no  employment  for  hand  or  brain;  they  are  exuber- 
ant ;  activity  of  body  and  mind  is  a  necessity ;  muscles 
demand  exercise;  curiosity  craves  satisfaction.  The 
children  are  eager  for  work  or  play,  or  for  both. 

Second,  places  for  amusement  and  instruction  are 
procurable.  Chtirch  buildings  are  conveniently  lo- 
cated in  populous  centers.  Their  cool  rooms  afford 
shelter  from  the  sickening  heat  of  summer  days ;  they 
cultivate  the  aesthetic  taste  by  their  cleanliness  and 
furnishings;  they  are  a  place  of  refuge  from  obscene 
sights  and  disgusting  odors  and  blasphemous  language 
of  home  and  street ;  and  they  associate  ideas  of  religion 
with  sport  and  study  and  work. 

Third,  the  subjects  taught  are  somewhat  familiar. 
The  art  of  reading,  acquired  in  public  schools,  is  applied 
to  literature  of  a  morally  uplifting  sort ;  so  that  taste 
for  the  pure  and  clean  is  developed.  Instruction  in 
drawing,  required  in  day  schools,  is  supplemented  in 


THE   SOCIAL  SERVICE   OP  STUDENTS        87 

vacation  schools,  but  directed  to  sacred  places  and 
districts  by  requiring  maps  of  places  associated  with 
incidents  in  the  life  of  Christ.  Voices  are  trained  by 
singing,  but  religious  and  patriotic  sentiments  are 
evoked  by  use  of  hymns  and  patriotic  airs,  and  the 
memory  stored  with  choice  devotional  and  national 
lyrics.  Manual  training  is  also  taught,  and  thus  in- 
dustry and  thrift  are  encouraged  and  applauded. 
These  schools,  then,  by  their  curriculum  contribute 
directly  to  the  moral,  intellectual,  social,  and  industrial 
rescue  of  our  children  of  foreign  parents. 

Fourth,  competent  teachers  are  available.  Col- 
leges and  universities  have  closed  the  school  year. 
Students  are  seeking  recreation  and  employment. 
They  are  ready  for  service  that  promises  either  or  both. 
They  are  specially  sensitive  to  the  call  for  social  service 
for  they  are  young  men  and  women  of  lofty  ideals. 
They  have  seen  the  vision  of  a  redeemed  earth;  their 
sympathies  respond  to  the  cry  of  need ;  their  heroism 
urges  to  self-sacrifice. 

Fifth,  the  method  is  of  highest  pedagogical  value. 
The  teachers  are  not  instructors  in  the  academic  sense, 
but  rather  friends.  They  do  not  urge  pupils  to  become 
leaders  in  politics  or  finance,  or  literature ;  but  rather 
quicken  the  imagination  and  incite  the  will  to  worthy 
conduct.  Teachers  in  vacation  schools  almost  uncon- 
sciously have  the  purpose  of  Arnold  of  Rugby,  who 
did  not  think  it  his  duty  to  impart  information  merely 
or  qualify  men  to  bear  themselves  well  in  a  drawing- 
room,  but  who  did  care  to  call  forth  the  powers  of 
every  lad  brought  under  his  influence. 

Such  are  the  teachers  of  thousands  of  our  children 
during  the  summer  months.  They  have  no  college 
traditions  to  maintain;  they  have  no  inducements  to 
display  pedantry ;  they  have  no  temptation  to  assume 
the  dignity  that  is  supposed  to  attach  to  an  academic 


88     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

gown.  They  meet  children  in  class,  in  conversation,  in 
play,  in  visits  to  homes.  The  spontaneity  of  free 
companionship  is  everywhere  manifest.  This  is  of 
advantage  to  the  pupils.  Teachers  are  living  embodi- 
ments of  what  they  teach.  They  dress  neatly  and 
tastefully;  they  have  cultivated  manners;  they  have 
powers  of  adaptation ;  they  have  both  the  seriousness 
and  the  abandon  of  college  life ;  they  have  the  balanced 
outlook  of  young  manhood  and  young  womanhood; 
they  have  the  enthusiasm  of  optimism.  There  is  enough 
of  the  holiday  spirit  in  the  summer's  work  and  also 
enough  of  the  serious  to  produce  happiest  effects  on 
both  teacher  and  pupil.  The  dress  and  the  manners 
and  the  refinement  and  the  mental  culture  are  object  les- 
sons to  children  who  need  just  what  the  teachers  invol- 
untarily impart.  The  college  friend  becomes  an  ideal  to 
the  street  urchin.  In  subsequent  weeks  the  most  valued 
treasures  the  children  of  the  slums  will  possess  will  be 
memories  of  faces  and  words  and  deeds  of  refined  com- 
panions of  vacation  days ;  and  we  can  safely  trust  ideals 
to  have  effect  on  character. 

Meanwhile,  for  eight  consecutive  weeks,  for  six  days 
of  each  week,  children  are  being  trained  by  what  may 
be  termed  the  process  of  substitution.  Amusements 
and  sports  of  vacation  schools  are  substituted  for  the 
rowdyism  of  the  street ;  work  and  study  are  substituted 
for  aimlessness;  comradeship  with  cultured  men  and 
women  takes  the  place  of  evil  companionship;  ideals 
arising  from  college  atmosphere  displace  the  ideals  of 
the  slums.  A  summer's  experience  of  this  sort  proves 
an  incalculable  enrichment  of  child-life.  The  autumn's 
school  days  begin  with  higher  aspirations  and  strength- 
ened wills. 

In  vacation-school  work,  as  in  every  altruistic  work, 
to  give  life  is  to  save  it.  The  reflex  effect  upon  char- 
acter will  be  to  conserve  the  evangelistic  spirit  of  theo- 


THE   SOCIAL   SERVICE   OF  STUDENTS        89 

logical  students  and  retain  them  in  the  ministry,  and 
also  to  win  for  the  christian  ministry  such  college  stu- 
dents as  have  not  yet  chosen  life's  tasks,  but  who 
desire  to  choose  nobly  and  wisely.  It  is  well  known 
that  during  tmder-graduate  days  too  large  a  proportion 
of  theological  students  are  diverted  from  pastoral 
service.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  They  enter 
college  with  real  sincerity  of  purpose,  but  the  associa- 
tions of  home-church  life  are  no  longer  available.  In- 
tellectualism  is  substituted  for  evangelistic  activity. 
Investigation  of  second  causes  tends  to  drive  the  first 
cause  back  into  the  darkness  of  the  absolute;  the 
daily  recurring  duties  of  the  study  and  the  innocent 
sports  of  the  campus  and  the  gymnasium  are  of  chief 
interest;  the  religious  activities  of  College  Christian 
Associations  are  not  of  a  nature  to  produce  evangelistic 
enthusiasm.  Then,  too,  vacation  days  come,  with 
the  necessity  of  earning  money  to  re-enter  school  the 
ensuing  year.  Naturally,  the  student  seeks  the  most 
lucrative  employment,  and  he  finds  it  in  secular  affairs. 
The  summer  months  are  spent  in  self -centered  interests. 
Thus  four  consecutive  years  are  passed.  It  is  not 
strange  that  distinctively  religious  impulses  have  be- 
come increasingly  infrequent,  and  that  early  christian 
enthusiasm  has  waned,  and  that  the  evangelistic  work 
has  lost  its  zest.  It  is  not  strange  that  at  the  close  of 
four  years  of  continuous  application  to  purely  intellect- 
ual and  commercial  pursuits  many  morally  earnest 
theological  students  seriously  question  their  fitness 
for  the  work  they  had  chosen.  Nor  is  it  strange  that 
equally  morally  earnest  college  students,  having  had 
no  opportunity  of  experiencing  the  joy  of  social  service, 
find  no  response  to  the  world's  call  for  teachers  and 
preachers.  The  church  will  economize  in  money  and 
men,  and  increase  the  number  of  its  efficient  workers, 
when  it  provides  distinctively  religious  work  for  its 


90     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

college  men  and  women  during  the  summer  months. 
This  method  will  test  the  efficiency  of  aspirants  for  the 
ministry;  will  give  them  practical  experience  during 
school  life;  will  break  the  monotony  of  purely  secular 
work  for  four  consecutive  years  by  providing  oppor- 
tunities of  feeling  the  joy  of  christian  work  in  social 
service;  and  will  guarantee  them  the  money  needed 
for  completing  their  education  in  college  and  uni- 
versity. 

The  summer  vacation  schools,  then,  may  be  used  to 
provide  for  several  ends  concurrently.  Children  most 
in  need  will  acquire  what  they  most  need ;  some  college 
students  will  be  retained  in  the  ministry,  and  others 
recruited  for  its  service ;  students  of  independent  spirit 
will  find  the  means  of  completing  education  without 
feeling  the  humiliation  of  accepting  beneficiary  aid; 
and  a  healthier  moral  tone  will  be  imparted  to  relations 
existing  between  education  societies  and  their  bene- 
ficiaries. 

This  new  opportunity  for  social  service  may  well  be 
made  the  occasion  for  the  establishment  of  scholarships 
in  educational  institutions  for  the  benefit  of  students 
who  volunteer  to  teach  in  the  summer  vacation  schools 
that  are  being  opened  in  many  of  our  large  cities. 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 
ASSOCIATION  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  NATION 

GEORGE  ALBERT  COE,  Ph.  D. 

NORTHWESTERN    UNIVERSITY,    EVANSTON,    ILLINOIS 

What  is  "the  life  of  the  nation?"  Not  our  broad 
acres,  our  mines  and  marts,  or  the  whirling  wheels  of 
manufactures  and  commerce,  but  rather  the  human 
strivings  that  express  themselves  in  our  national  in- 
stitutions.    The  national  life  is  to  be  looked  for  not 


THE   RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION   ASSOCIATION     91 

even  in  what  the  nation  has  accomplished,  but  in  the 
characteristic  aspirations  of  its  history. 

What  is  our  characteristic  aspiration  as  a  nation? 
Is  it  not  democracy,  that  ideal  vision  of  the  final  worth 
of  the  individual,  of  opportiinity  for  all,  of  the  dignity 
of  honest  toil,  of  the  cooperation  of  all  as  brothers? 
From  this  platform  our  nation  has  been  spoken  of  as 
an  industrial  democracy.  Let  no  idealist  shrink  from 
such  a  description  of  his  people.  For  what  notion  of 
national  life  could  be  finer  than  that  all  our  citizens 
should  by  their  own  industry  contribute  each  his  share 
to  the  common  good  ?  Democracy  means  that  a  man 
shall  earn  a  living,  and  not  live  parasitically  upon  so- 
ciety by  means  of  special  privilege.  Democracy 
stands  for  man  himself  as  the  final  political  and  social 
consideration,  and  this  implies  that  the  wealth  of 
the  nation  consists  in  the  good  character  and  happiness 
of  the  people.  The  democratic  aspiration,  therefore, 
is  a  moral  aspiration,  however  slow  it  may  be  to  realize 
its  own  inner  meaning. 

As  far  as  American  religion  has  a  special  character 
of  its  own  —  and  I  believe  it  has  a  very  special  char- 
acter —  democracy  is  the  niark  of  it.  We  are  striving 
after  a  democratic  God.  A  conception  of  God  that 
satisfied  feudal  society  cannot  meet  the  needs  of  a 
modem  industrial  commonwealth;  nor  can  our  needs 
be  met  as  long  as  we  think  the  divine  in  terms  of  mon- 
archy or  empire.  Hence  it  is  that  we  Americans  are 
asking  whether  a  revelation  of  God  cannot  be  found  in 
the  ordinary  things  of  the  common  day  of  the  common 
man;  whether  the  authority  of  Almighty  God  cannot 
be  expressed  in  terms  of  the  same  common  good  that 
commands  our  social  conscience ;  and  whether  the  dem- 
ocratic standard  that  demands  that  a  man  earn  a  living 
does  not  truly  reproduce  the  conception  of  Jesus  when  he 
said, ' '  My  Father  worketh  even  until  now,  and  I  work." 


92     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

The  Religious  Education  Association  is  an  expres- 
sion of  the  moral  and  religious  aspirations  of  demo- 
cracy. We  are  democratic  in  our  membership.  We 
have  no  fences  to  keep  men  out,  but  we  invite  all  who 
desire  to  promote  moral  and  religious  education  to  join 
us  without  regard  to  ecclesiastical  or  other  differences. 
We  are  not  an  association  for  the  ^lite  of  the  religious 
or  the  educational  world ;  the  layman  sits  by  the  cler- 
gyman, the  humblest  Sunday-school  teacher  by  the 
university  president. 

We  are  democratic  also  in  our  aims.  We  desire  to 
promote  religious  and  moral  education  for  the  whole 
people.  We  strive  to  bring  to  the  privileged  and  the 
neglected  alike  the  best  results  of  human  experience 
in  home  training,  in  moral  training  in  the  state  schools, 
and  in  Sunday-school  training.  We  hold  that  every 
child  in  this  democracy  is  entitled  to  opportunity  and 
help  for  an  unobstructed  moral  development.  We 
believe  that  God  is  the  God  of  childhood  as  of  manhood, 
and  that  the  normal  development  of  the  child  is  a  devel- 
opment in  the  realization  of  God.  We  would  also  help 
men  to  find  God  in  the  common  occupations  of  life,  and 
thereby  to  purge  and  glorify  our  industrialism. 


EDUCATION  THROUGH   SOCIAL  SERVICE 

GEORGE  W.  COLEMAN 

BUSINESS    MANAGER,    THE    CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR    WORLD,    TREMONT 
TEMPLE,    BOSTON,    MASS. 

I  like  my  topic  immensely  —  the  education  of  Chris- 
tian yoimg  people  through  social  service.  There  is 
enough  spiritual  dynamite  wrapped  up  in  that  little 
package  to  turn  the  present  order  of  society  upside 
down.  Fill  the  heart  of  Young  America  with  the  pre- 
cepts of  Jesus  Christ  and  then  turn  them  loose  into  the 


EDUCATION  THROUGH   SOCIAL   SERVICE    93 

world,  the  real  world,  to  do  service,  real  service,  (and 
not  simply  to  hold  services),  and  within  a  generation 
much  of  the  machinery  of  our  boasted  modem  society 
would  be  relegated  to  the  scrap-heap  where  it  belongs. 
It  would  be  pushed  aside  to  make  way  for  a  better  order 
of  things. 

The  scrap-heap  has  been  the  making  of  American 
commerce  and  industry.  The  business  man  swiftly 
consigns  antiquated  methods  and  machinery  to  the 
junk-pile.  In  religion  and  politics  it  is  different.  We 
want  to  do  as  our  fathers  did.  That  is  what  is  the 
matter  with  us.  Unless  the  Christian  yoimg  people 
of  the  coming  generation  do  better  than  their  fathers 
have  done  in  some  things,  then  other  young  people  now 
coming  to  maturity  will  do  worse  than  their  fathers  did, 
a  thousand  times  over. 

My  topic  is  not  only  vital  and  sweeping ;  it  is  sound 
in  its  philosophy.  Education  through  social  service; 
that  reminds  you  at  once  of  the  modem  dictum  — 
"learn  to  do  by  doing."  And  this  modem  educa- 
tional method,  which  emphasizes  the  culture  and  dis- 
cipline as  well  as  the  utility  of  the  vocational  training, 
finds  its  counterpart  in  the  ancient  promise:  "If  any 
man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine." 
By  the  means  of  persistent  and  generous  social  ser- 
vice along  modem  lines  (in  which  the  fathers  were  not 
trained)  the  young  people  of  to-day  will  see  truth  that 
was  hidden  from  their  elders. 

Now  what  do  we  mean  by  "  social  service  "  the  doing 
of  which  is  to  train,  instruct,  and  discipline  our  Chris- 
tian young  people?  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  word 
to-day  that  is  more  confusing  to  most  people  than  this 
same  word  "social."  The  shades  of  meaning  that 
people  attach  to  it  vary  all  the  way  from  socialism  and 
anarchy  to  a  pink  tea  and  an  oyster  supper.  Our 
meaning  occupies  a  middle  ground.     By  social  service 


94     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

we  mean  any  effort  made  to  improve  the  condition  of 
society.  It  reaches  all  the  way  from  presonal  hand-to- 
hand  work  with  an  individual  for  the  betterment  of 
society  to  vehement  denunciation  of  injustice  and  op- 
pression in  high  places. 

Not  only  is  a  part  of  the  education  of  young  people 
to  come  through  social  service;  not  only  are  they  in 
thorough  sympathy  with  this  broader  and  stronger 
interpretation  of  the  Christian  Hfe,  but  in  an  almost  un- 
paralleled manner  the  field  is  white  for  their  harvesting. 
Never  was  there  greater  demand  for  genuine  social  ser- 
vice ;  never  were  the  doors  flung  wider  open  to  all  who 
choose  to  enter;  never  were  there  so  many  accepted 
avenues  of  service ;  never  were  the  ministrations  of  the 
laymen — the  common  man  and  woman  —  more  ac- 
ceptable. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  a  young  man  or  young  woman 
in  this  day  and  generation.  Christian  Endeavor  and 
kindred  organizations  have  done  an  amazing  amount  of 
work  in  training  young  people  for  the  serious  side  of 
life.  Organized  religion  is  undergoing,  quietly  but  rap- 
idly, vast  changes.  Society  at  large,  the  world  over, 
is  threatened  with  upheaval,  through  the  tremendous 
force  exerted  by  the  lower  classes  pressing  up  from 
beneath.  Christianity  has  by  no  means  lost  its 
leavening  power  —  when  applied.  When  the  present 
generation  of  young  people,  now  in  training  through 
social  service,  come  to  their  full  powers,  it  will  be  said 
again  as  of  old :  "  They  that  have  turned  the  world  up- 
side down  have  come  hither."  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
this  education  of  the  young  people  through  social  ser- 
vice is  of  the  greatest  importance.  They  will  control 
the  destinies  of  the  church  in  the  next  generation.  And 
as  Charles  Stelzle,  the  labor-leader  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  has  so  well  said,  all  up  and  down  this  coun- 
try, it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  labor  movement 


EDUCATION   THROUGH   SOCIAL   SERVICE    95 

captures  the  church  or  the  church  captures  the  labor 
movement.  It  all  depends  perhaps  upon  the  origin  of 
the  next  great  prophet  of  the  people,  whether  he  springs 
from  that  laboring  class  which  has  cast  the  church 
aside,  or  whether  he  springs  from  out  of  the  bosom  of 
the  church  itself.  Maybe  the  church  has  him  in  train- 
ing now.     If  so,  he  must  be  much  in  social  service. 

So  much  for  the  importance  of,  necessity  and  op- 
portimity  for,  social  service  by  the  yoimg  people.  In 
the  development  of  o\ir  topic,  the  next  logical  step 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  great  American  ques- 
tion, How?" 

It  is  not  difficult  to  know  where  to  begin.  For 
unless  you  are  a  hermit,  or  a  family  without  neighbors 
of  any  sort,  you  will  begin  right  at  home,  in  your  own 
door-yard  so  to  speak.  Certainly  your  first  duty  is  to 
your  own  neighborhood   or  community. 

But  before  you  cross  the  threshhold  of  your  own 
home  on  the  errand  of  social  service,  I  would  ask  you 
to  take  a  word  of  counsel,  broad,  and  strong,  and  far- 
reaching.  I  would  be  willing  to  give  my  life,  if  I 
could  write  just  seventy-nine  words  on  the  tablets  of 
the  heart  of  every  consecrated  young  man  in  America. 
They  are  the  words  of  Abraham  Lincoln : 

"  I  like  to  see  a  man  proud  of  the  place  in  which  he 
lives.  I  like  to  see  a  man  who  lives  in  it  so  that  his 
place  will  be  proud  of  him.  Be  honest,  but  hate  no 
one ;  overturn  a  man's  wrong-doing,  but  do  not  over- 
turn him  unless  it  must  be  done  in  overturning  the 
wrong.  Stand  with  anybody  that  stands  right. 
Stand  with  him  while  he  is  right,  and  part  with  him 
when  he  goes  wrong."  That  is  a  trustworthy  political 
chart  as  well  as  a  reliable  social  compass. 

Those  noble  words  lead  me  straight  to  my  first  sug- 
gestion for  social  work  close  at  hand.  Join  your  vil- 
lage improvement  society,  whatever  be  its  name.  I  live 


96     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

in  a  section  of  a  great  city  that  has  been  described  as  a 
city  wilderness,  but  we  have  a  vigorous,  though  young, 
improvement  society  for  that  district  and  I  am  in  it 
heart  and  soul.  If  your  community  hasn't  an  organ- 
ization of  that  sort,  make  one,  unless  your  neighbor- 
hood cannot  be  improved,  in  which  case  it  ought  to  be 
translated  at  once.  The  mere  social  contact  of  oth- 
erwise diverse  elements  in  such  an  organization  is  alone 
worth  all  it  costs.  Such  contact  with  life  is  invalu- 
able in  moulding  the  natures  of  young  men  and  women. 

Temperance  work  in  both  its  political  and  personal 
aspects  affords  another  wide-open  door  for  social  ser- 
vice in  almost  every  community.  On  the  political 
side  you  can  work  either  for  no-license  and  prohibition 
or  for  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  liquor  laws.  On  the 
personal  side  you  can  work  for  total  abstinence  and 
join  in  the  rescue  of  the  drunkard.  The  evil  of  the  sa- 
loon will  never  be  done  away  with  until  more  people 
learn  by  direct  observation  its  devilish  ways. 

There  are  the  sick  and  the  needy  and  the  unfortunate 
in  private  homes  and  in  public  institutions  who  need 
the  helping  hand,  the  sympathetic  word,  the  fragrant 
flower.  I  do  not  mean  just  those  of  your  own  church ; 
that  is  family  service.  I  mean  whoever  is  most  needy; 
that  is  social  service.  Neither  do  I  mean  a  call  in  which 
you  minister  to  the  spiritual  need  specifically.  I  mean 
those  to  whom  you  carry,  so  to  speak,  a  cup  of  cold 
water,  as  to  one  in  need,  without  thought  of  adminis- 
tering religious  instruction. 

Are  you  near  a  sea-port  or  other  great  water-way  or 
in  the  vicinity  of  an  army  barracks  ?  Right  there  is  a 
great  opportunity  for  social  service,  in  a  multitude  of 
ways  that  will  suggest  themselves  to  any  eager  mind. 

How  about  the  men  and  women  in  jails  and  prisons 
and  almshouses?  I  have  a  neighbor  who  is  literally 
squandering  his  life  away,  his  money,  his  time,  his 


EDUCATION   THROUGH   SOCIAL   SERVICE    97 

strength,  in  a  passionate  devotion  to  the  "down-and- 
out"  class,  as  he  calls  them.  He  goes  to  the  jails  and 
talks  to  the  men  like  a  brother.  They  come  to  him 
when  they  are  released  and  he  goes  himgry  himself  to 
give  them  a  meal  and  nearly  runs  his  legs  off  to  find 
work  for  them.  And  he  does  it  for  absolutely  nothing 
—  nothing  but  the  love  of  it.  That  is  SOCIAL  SER- 
VICE, written  in  capital  letters. 

Now,  perhaps  you  are  saying:  can  young  people 
do  all  these  things  ?  Let  me  say  to  you  that  thousands 
of  them  are  doing  it  to-day.  They  have  been  given 
the  motive  and  have  learned  the  methods  in  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  movement  which  to-day  has  its  branches 
among  the  sailors  and  the  soldiers,  in  the  army  and  the 
navy,  in  the  jails  and  prisons,  down  in  the  rescue  mis- 
sions as  well  as  in  sixty -odd  thousand  church  centres 
scattered  all  over  the  globe  in  every  country  where  the 
missionaries  of  the  cross  have  penetrated. 

And  what  would  you  say  concerning  the  labor 
unions  ?  It  is  true  that  the  working  men  have  largely 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  church.  Shall  we  then  turn 
blind  eyes  toward  them?  Can  we  afford  to  forget  all 
about  them  because  they  have  not  taken  kindly  to 
our  mode  of  chttrch  ?  Shall  not  the  abominations  of 
child-labor  stir  us  to  action?  Shall  not  insufficient 
wages  or  wretched  hygienic  conditions  move  us  to  pity, 
even  if  our  meats  are  not  endangered  ?  How  can  we 
feel  these  things  or  do  righteously  by  them,  unless  we 
know  the  facts  ?  Cannot  our  young  men  and  women 
eager  for  social  service  keep  us  in  touch  at  first  hand 
with  these  situations?  Or  must  we  wait  for  an  ex- 
plosion with  danger  to  our  own  comfort  or  health 
before  we  become  really  interested  and  concerned  ? 

The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  has  re- 
cently organized  a  Patriot's  League  which  affords 
another  magnificent  opportunity  for  all  young  men  and 


98     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

women  of  the  higher  type  of  ability,  whether  Christia.n 
Endeavorers  or  not.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  league  to 
develop  in  every  community  a  band  of  young  people 
who  will  devote  themselves  to  a  definite  and  practical 
study  of  citizenship,  and  at  the  same  time  hold  them- 
selves in  readiness  for  prompt  and  vigorous  action 
whenever  opportunities  present  themselves.  There  is 
an  almost  limitless  field  of  work  in  this  direction  alone. 

Has  that  great  flood  of  immigration,  the  greatest 
movement  of  the  people  known  in  history,  come  to 
your  doors  as  yet?  Not  only  are  some  of  our  great 
cities  being  transformed  by  this  new  tide  of  life,  but 
many  a  country  town  also  is  being  inundated.  These 
people  are  of  every  race  and  creed.  Is  our  duty  done 
when  we  have  sought  to  win  them  to  our  own  special 
sect?  Is  there  not  given  us  here  an  immense  field  for 
social  service? 

In  New  York  City  there  is  a  Sunday  evening  meeting 
for  these  people  at  Cooper  Union  which  interests  alike 
all  races  and  creeds.  It  deals  with  fundamental,  moral, 
and  spiritual  truths  that  appeal  to  every  sincere  and 
honest  heart.  We  are  about  to  start  a  similiar  series 
of  Sunday  evening  meetings  in  Boston.  Only  by  seek- 
ing to  serve  these  people  will  we  ever  understand  them. 
Close  contact  with  them  in  personal  ways  is  a  great 
eradicator  of  prejudices.  This  is  another  very  wide- 
open  door  of  social  service  for  our  young  people  to  enter. 

Although  there  are  many  other  channels  for  social 
service  open  to  yoimg  people  I  will  take  time  to  mention 
but  one  more.  This  way  is  so  simple  and  so  compre- 
hensive that  I  wonder  it  had  not  been  tried  before. 
But  in  so  far  as  I  know  it  is  of  recent  origin.  Briefly, 
it  is  this: 

A  men's  Bible  class  in  the  Calvary  Baptist  Church 
of  Albany  gave  the  young  people's  society  in  that 
church  a  dollar  a  week  for  city  missionary  and  phil- 


PERSONAL   AND   COMMUNITY   HYGIENE     99 

anthropic  work,  provided  only,  that  a  different  member 
of  the  society  should  each  week  take  that  dollar,  and 
himself,  or  herself,  search  out  some  needy  child  in  the 
city  and  minister  to  it  and  report  back  to  the  society 
how  the  money  had  been  used.  I  doubt  if  Solomon 
himself  could  have  devised  a  diviner  way  of  spending 
a  dollar  bill.  It  is  more  than  twice  blessed  for  it  not 
only  brings  a  blessing  to  that  men's  Bible  class,  to  the 
child  who  receives  the  help,  and  to  the  young  people's 
society  that  listens  to  the  report  each  week,  but  it  also 
gives  the  members  of  that  society  an  individual  and 
ideal  training  in  social  service.  It  would  be  easy  to 
point  out  in  detail  the  advantages  of  such  a  training 
to  any  young  person,  for  the  more  you  consider  the  plan 
the  richer  it  appears  in  possibilities.  Under  this  train- 
ing the  young  missionary  learns  to  recognize  need  and 
to  minister  to  it  wherever  she  finds  it  without  thought 
of  any  returning  benefit  to  her  or  her  society  or  church. 
Surely  in  thus  giving  "  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  one  of  his 
little  ones"  they  were  honoring  the  Lord  of  life. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  OF  PERSONAL  AND 
COMMUNITY   HYGIENE 

GEORGE  J.  FISHER,  M.  D. 

SECRETARY    PHYSICAL    WORK,    INTERNATIONAL   COMMITTEE, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,    NEW    YORK 

Ruskin  has  said  that  man's  chief  concern  is  to  know 
himself  and  the  existing  state  of  things  in  which  he 
finds  himself;  to  be  happy  in  himself  and  in  the 
existing  state  of  things  in  which  he  finds  himself,  and 
to  change  himself  and  the  existing  state  of  things 
in  which  he  finds  himself. 

If  we  will  accept  Ruskin's  definition  of  life  and 
inject  into  it  the  Christian  motive  we  find  a  very  good 


loo     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

definition  of  what  it  means  to  be  a  Christian  man  in 
this  age. 

The  Christian  religion  involves  at  least  three  things : 
to  know  Grod  and  worship  him  with  personal  adoration 
and  praise;  to  live  a  victorious,  self -conquered  life 
by  overcoming  all  sin  and  weakness,  and  to  promote 
righteousness  and  goodwill  among  men. 

In  other  words  it  involves  a  life  of  subjection  to 
God,  a  life  of  mastery  over  self,  a  life  of  service  to 
men.  A  man  is  a  complete  well-rounded  Christian 
only  as  he  assumes  these  three  relationships.  He 
cannot  be  faithful  in  any  one  and  neglect  the  others. 
In  answer  to  those  who  lived  this  latter  kind  of 
religion  Jesus  answered :     "I  never  knew  you." 

Now,  this  three-fold  relation  is  not  through  some 
specific,  specialized,  supernatural  way,  but  through 
normal  and  natural  ways.  It  is  not  only  supernatural 
but  natural.  It  does  not  involve  the  consecration 
of  some  of  life's  energies,  but  all  of  them. 

With  reference  to  mastery  over  self,  this  is  not 
purely  psychological  but  physiological  as  well.  Relig- 
ion is  not  a  part  of  a  man's  self  but  all  of  himself.  All 
the  physical  processes  of  life  are  involved  as  well  as 
the  psychical. 

While  man  is  eternally  spiritual  he  is  at  least 
temporarily  physical.  He  is  fimdamentally  and  pri- 
marily spiritual — his  real  world  is  the  thought  world, 
the  spiritual  world,  but  his  mental  life  and  his  spiritual 
life  are  expressed  by  means  of  physical  processes. 
Just  as  the  human  being  evolves  from  an  infinitesimal 
cell  of  physical  matter  into  a  living  soul,  so  the  spiritual 
and  mental  processes  develop  from  the  purely  physical 
into  the  psychic.  A  man's  mental  and  spiritual  pro- 
cesses are  constantly  colored  by  the  character  of  his 
physiological  functioning  and  are  constantly  modified 
by  his  physical  states. 


PERSONAL  AND   COMMUNITY   HYGIENE     loi 

Too  frequently  we  have  forgotten  this  and  spiritual 
fires  have  been  stifled  because  the  drafts  have  been 
choked  by  pathological  physical  debris.  This  is  what 
Hall  refers  to  when  he  speaks  of  the  pathology  ot  the 
religious  life.  The  laws  of  God  are  written  on  tables  of 
flesh  as  well  as  tables  of  stone.  We  are  admonished  to 
worship  God  not  only  with  all  our  heart  and  mind,  but 
as  well  with  aU  our  strength.  We  are  told  to  be  holy, 
but  holiness  is  wholeness.  The  sins  of  the  fathers  are 
visited  upon  the  sons  unto  the  third  and  fourth  gener- 
ations it  is  time,  but  these  are  largely  inherited  through 
physical  characteristics.  It  involves  organic  ftuiction 
and  neuro-muscular  instability. 

Why  do  men,  frequently  of  great  spiritual  power, 
fall  in  sin?  Why  do  we  find,  so  often  among  men 
noted  for  their  spiritual  fervor  and  allegiance  to  ortho- 
doxy, moral  obliquities?  How  can  we  explain  mor- 
bidity and  melancholia  among  men  whose  faith  in  an 
omniscient  God  should  spring  up  within  them  a  well 
of  never-diminishing  optimism  ?  Why  do  men  supreme 
in  devotion  to  God  give  way  to  physical  appetites? 
Why  are  they  cross  and  peevish  and  irritable  and 
pessimistic?  Simply  this,  they  have  been  converted 
psychologically  but  not  physiologically.  Theirs  has 
been  an  experience  of  ectasy  but  not  of  euphoria. 

Sin  and  temptation  in  many  lives  are  such  because 
of  physical  ills  and  abnormalities  rather  than  inherent 
and  Adamic  depravity.  Many  men  are  "carrying  on 
their  morals  what  they  should  carry  on  their  muscles.  " 
Men  are  having  real  and  serious  spiritual  battles  sim- 
ply because  of  physical  weaknesses.  "  Few  realize  what 
physical  vigor  is  in  man  or  woman,  or  how  dangerously 
near  weakness  often  is  to  wickedness,  how  impossible 
healthful  energy  of  will  is  without  strong  muscles  which 
are  its  organ,  or  how  endurance  and  self-control,  no 
less  than  great  achievement,  depend  on  muscle  habits." 


I02     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

There  are  men  who  are  losing  spiritual  battles  simply 
because  they  are  physically  fatigued.  Fatigue  des- 
troys will  power.  It  dulls  the  reflexes.  It  poisons  the 
blood  and  lowers  the  vitality  of  all  physical  functioning. 
It  weakens  inhibition  and  self-control.  As  Gulick 
pertinently  says :  "  When  a  man  is  exhausted  he  finds 
it  difficult  to  be  patient.  His  self-control  is  at  a  low 
ebb.     The  smallest  annoyances  are  enough  to  make  him 

lose  his  temper Many  temptations  are  harder 

to  resist  when  a  man  is  fatigued.  His  moral  sense  is 
dulled.      He   loses  the   vividness  between   right   and 

wrong,  honesty  and  dishonesty Bodily  vigor  is 

a  moral  agent.  It  enables  us  to  live  on  higher  levels, 
to  keep  up  to  the  top  of  our  achievement."  This  ex- 
plains, does  it  not,  the  inconsistencies  of  many  of 
our  deeply  spiritual  friends  ? 

Pathologic  conditions  create  abnormal  appetites. 
Poor  diet  leads  to  alcholism.  Overeating  dulls  mental- 
ity and  depresses  ardor.  Abounding  health  gives  the 
possessor  the  consciousness  of  power,  the  willingness 
to  dare,  to  be,  to  overcome. 

The  close  relation  between  the  psychic  and  the 
physical  is  illustrated  perhaps  in  the  following:  If  a 
right-handed  man  is  paralyzed  on  the  right  side  he 
loses  the  power  of  speech.  If  a  left-handed  man  is 
paralyzed  on  the  left  side,  he  loses  the  power  of  speech 
If,  however,  a  right-handed  man  is  paralyzed  on  the 
left  side  he  does  not  lose  the  power  to  speak,  and  vice 
versa.  This  indicates  that  the  speech  center  and  what 
we  may  term  the  volitional  center  of  the  brain  are 
located  in  the  same  hemisphere.  Speech  is  one  of  the 
later  acquisitions  of  the  human  race.  Before  people 
had  a  spoken  language  they  communicated  with  each 
other  by  means  of  gesture.  Finally  words  and  sounds 
accompanied  gesture.  Speech  developed  in  company 
with  muscular  movement.     Their  centers  in  the  brain 


PERSONAL   AND   COMMUNITY    HYGIENE     103 

area  consequently  became  closely  associated.  Thus 
speech  and  the  hand  became  physiologically  related. 
It  was  the  psychic  growing  out  of  and  a  part  of  the 
physiologic,  each  interacting  upon  the  other.* 

Let  us  push  the  relation  a  little  farther.  Stanley 
Hall  is  responsible  for  the  expression  "We  think  in 
terms  of  muscular  movement  more  or  less  remote." 
That  is,  thought  and  emotion  are  expressed  through 
physical  activity.  When  a  man  is  in  a  rage  we  know 
it  by  his  muscular  expression.  He  corrugates  his 
brow,  clenches  his  hands,  sets  his  jaws,  and  stiffens  his 
muscles.  His  heart  beats  faster  and  his  respirations 
are  more  rapid.  If  we  were  to  smooth  out  the  brow 
and  relax  the  tense  muscles  how  much  of  the  emotion 
would  be  left?  I  am  sure  considerable  of  the  rage 
would  be  gone  for  the  muscles  involved  are  a  part  of 
the  emotive  apparatus.  They  either  intensify  or  in- 
hibit the  psychic  impulse.  The  man  who  has  good, 
well-toned,  self-controlled  muscles,  all  other  things 
being  equal  will  have  the  richer,  best  controlled  psychic 
experience.  It  is  the  flabby  men  who  go  to  pieces,  who 
fly  in  a  rage,  who  go  to  the  bad.  The  criminal  and 
delinquent  classes  are  deficient  in  stature  and  charac- 
teristically undernourished,  underfed  and  underde- 
veloped. 

Of  a  class  of  1 50  backward  children  in  the  New  York 
public  schools  100  per  cent  were  physically  defective. 
These  children  were  bad,  truant  and  mentally  subnor- 
mal. Glasses  were  fitted  to  30  per  cent  of  them  who 
had  defective  vision.  From  the  rest  diseased  tonsils 
were  removed  and  adenoid  vegetations  taken  from 
their  throats.  Within  a  short  period  these  children 
heretofore  abnormal  mentally,  physically  and  morally, 
showed  a  marked  regeneration  and  almost  without 
exception  became  mentally  normal,  obedient,  and  law 

*  Brain  and  Personality  —  Hanna  Thompson, 


I04     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

abiding.  Physical  defects  had  caused  their  truancy, 
their  moral  obliquity  and  their  mental  dullness. 

Religious  education  cannot  neglect  the  necessity  of 
saving  body  as  well  as  soul.  "The  ideals  of  religion 
need  a  regenerated  somatic  organism  with  which  to 
serve  Jesus  Christ.  Religious  motives  must  be  rein- 
forced by  those  of  the  new  hygiene  which  strive  for  a 
new  wholesome  holiness  and  would  purify  the  body  as 

the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost In  this  way 

we  shall  have  a  strong,  well-knit  soul  texture,  made  up 
of  volitions  and  ideas  like  warp  and  woof.  Mind  and 
will  will  be  so  compactly  organized  that  all  their  forces 
can  be  brought  to  a  single  point.  Each  concept  or  pur- 
pose will  call  up  those  related  to  it  and  once  strongly  set 
towards  its  object,  the  soul  will  find  itself  borne  along 
by  unexpected  forces,  "t 

The  great  strain  of  modem  business  life  makes  it 
necessary  that  men  take  thought  of  their  physical  needs. 
Restriction  of  physical  activity  supplemented  by  in- 
creased demands  upon  the  nervous  system  are  playing 
havoc  with  men's  bodies  and  characters.  It  is  a  truism 
that  health  comes  in  through  the  muscles  and  flies  out 
through  the  nerves.  Organic  vigor  depends  upon 
muscle  activity.  The  only  means  by  which  heart  and 
lungs,  liver  and  kidneys  and  the  organs  of  the  body  can 
be  invigorated  is  through  vigorous  contraction  of  the 
large  muscles  of  the  body.  We  are  just  beginning  to 
realize  the  importance  of  this.  While  there  has  been  a 
decrease  of  from  15  to  35  per  cent  in  the  death  rate 
from  the  so-called  communicable  diseases  there  has  been 
an  increase  of  from  5  to  15  per  cent  in  the  organic 
diseases,  such  as  diseases  of  the  heart,  digestion  and 
kidneys.  Bright 's  disease,  a  disease  of  the  kidneys, 
has  increased  alarmingly.  Last  year  the  death  rate  in 
New  York  state  increased  6  per  cent  from  this  disease, 

t  Stanley  Hall. 


PERSONAL  AND   COMMUNITY   HYGIENE     105 

which  is  largely  due  to  muscular  inactivity  and  errors  in 
diet.  Recent  researches  have  proven  that  most  men 
are  eating  too  much  and  particularly  of  some  foods 
known  as  the  proteids  found  in  the  meats  principally. 
The  absorption  and  elimination  of  these  products 
throw  considerable  work  upon  the  heart,  lungs  and 
kidneys,  and  where  ignorance  exists  disease  ensues. 

Few  agencies  are  teaching  personal  hygiene.  The 
schools  as  yet  are  negligent.  The  teaching  of  these 
subjects  must  be  undertaken  as  they  are  so  vital  to 
successsful  living.  In  such  teaching  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  can  be  the  pioneer  and  have  a 
large  share.  The  trend  of  physical  training  in  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is  changing.  It  is 
concerned  not  primarily  in  teaching  men  to  exercise, 
but  in  teaching  men  to  live  and  as  a  part  of  this  train- 
ing, courses  in  personal  hygiene  should  be  taught  that 
men  may  know  what  changes  occur  in  their  physical 
economy  as  they  exercise  and  how  to  adjust  their 
physical  habits  so  as  to  live  at  the  highest  level  of 
mental  and  spiritual  efficiency. 


COMMUNITY  HYGIENE 

Some  of  us  believe  that  when  the  apostle  John  speaks 
of  the  new  city  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven 
he  refers  to  the  time  when  our  cities  shall  be  perfectly 
governed  and  when  sanitary  science  shall  have  so  far 
progressed  that  literally  there  shall  be  no  death  nor 
dying.  To-day  this  is  far  from  true  of  our  cities,  and 
they  are  likened  to  biological  furnaces,  burning  up 
vitality,  destroying  weak  babies,  and  proving  great 
pestilential  hot-houses 

There  is  no  worthier  cause  that  the  association  can 
iindertake  than  to  educate  its  members  in  the  subject 
of  public  hygiene  and  to    enlist    them  in  intelligent 


io6     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

effort  to  make  the  city  a  healthful  place  in  which  to 
live. 

"Sanitary  science  is  knit  up  with  the  life-history 
of  every  nation  and  enters  largely  into  the  history  of 
civilization.  It  figures  largely  in  the  Mosaic  code  of 
the  Jewish  race  and  its  instructions  and  preventive 
measures  as  exemplified  in  that  code  have  accounted 
for  the  greater  comparative  longevity  of  the  Jews,  for 
their  extraordinary  immunity  from  the  recurring 
epidemics  of  the  middle  ages.  Nations  have  been 
swept  out  of  existence  because  of  lack  of  public  hygiene. 
The  Greeks  were  a  great  nation  for  encouraging  physi- 
cal training,  but  they  were  unconcerned  with  reference 
to  their  manner  of  living  and  housing  and  the  care  of 
the  sick  and  attributed  the  great  epidemics  which  swept 
over  them  as  visitations  of  angry  gods."  Is  there  not 
danger  that  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
we  make  the  same  mistake  ?  Is  there  not  incongruity 
in  our  teaching  if  we  do  not  include  the  personal  living 
and  the  communal  life  of  our  constituency  in  their 
relation  to  health  ? 

It  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  sobering  reflection  that  over 
one-third  of  all  the  men  who  die  between  the  ages  of 
twenty  and  thirty  die  from  a  preventable  disease ;  that 
56,770  persons  died  of  tuberculosis  in  the  United  States 
last  year ;  that  one-tenth  of  all  the  deaths  are  due  to 
this  cause;  that  the  United  States  has  three  times  as 
high  a  death  rate  of  typhoid  fever  as  England  and 
Wales,  and  that  thousands  of  babies  die  before  reaching 
the  age  of  five  years.  This  high  death  rate  is  due  to 
faulty  public  measures.  Typhoid  is  largely  due  to  a 
polluted  water  supply  caused  in  main  by  an  imperfect 
sewerage  system.  The  terrible  infant  mortality,  which 
is  the  shame  of  this  nation,  is  due  largely  to  poor  milk. 
Pasteurized  milk  reduces  the  death  rate  greatly. 
Tuberculosis,  the  white  plague  of  America,  is  cultured 


PERSONAL   AND   COMMUNITY    HYGIENE     107 

and  propagated  by  imperfect  street  cleaning  and  poor 
housing. 

Thirty-eight  different  kinds  of  dust  charge  the  air 
in  the  different  industries,  thirty -one  of  which  are 
poisonous,  and  yet  the  workers  breathe  them,  and  this 
class  of  workers  shows  the  highest  death  rate  of  all 
diseases  of  any  group.  It  is  said  that  500,000  lives  are 
sacrificed  annually  in  our  industries  because  life-saving 
apparatus  is  not  provided  and  humane  treatment 
accorded  the  industrial  worker. 

Child  labor  and  the  sweatshop,  with  all  their  physi- 
cal and  moral  inquisition,  add  to  the  moral  and  physical 
degeneracy  of  the  people  of  our  cities.  As  some  one 
has  said,  Herod  is  upon  the  throne,  not  a  personal 
Herod,  but  the  Herod  of  greed  and  ignorance  who  is 
slaying  our  babes  and  the  first  bom  of  our  homes. 

Sanitary  science  has  made  great  advances.  The 
causes  of  disease  have  been  discovered.  The  microbic 
theory  of  disease,  discovered  by  Pasteur  and  Koch, 
has  revolutionized  our  methods  of  fighting  disease  and 
staying  epidemics.  The  later  discovery  that  some 
forms  of  disease  are  conveyed  by  insects  and  rodents, 
such  as  malaria  and  yellow  fever  by  mosquitoes,  and 
the  bubonic  plague  by  rats,  have  provided  a  knowledge 
which  only  need  the  united  efforts  of  public  officials 
and  the  common  people  to  make  them  practically 
unknown  diseases.  Boards  of  health  and  philanthropic 
institutions  have  done  much  to  reduce  the  death  rate. 
Tuberculosis  alone  in  New  York  City  was  reduced  forty 
per  cent  in  twenty  years.  With  the  intelligent  support 
of  the  citizens  wonderful  results  could  be  accomplished. 

There  are  two  reasons  why  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  should  teach  community  hygiene : 

I.  The  greatest  need  of  the  association  is  demo- 
cracy. The  membership  is  based  upon  selfish  lines. 
Men  come  for  what  they  can  get  rather  than  for  what 


io8     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

they  can  be  or  do.  Joining  the  association  does  not 
mean  enHsting  with  others  in  a  great  endeavor  to  help 
others.  What  is  needed  is  the  injection  into  the  mem- 
bership of  an  altruistic  ptirpose.  Public  hygiene 
provides  such  a  purpose.  It  involves  their  education 
in  public  needs.  It  enlists  them  in  an  endeavor  to 
promote  health  and  happiness,  remove  sickness  and 
sorrow,  provide  comfort  and  well-being,  ward  off 
danger  and  death,  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked, 
care  for  the  sick,  and  promote  more  favorable  condi- 
tions for  the  promotion  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  It 
enlarges  the  scope  of  Christian  service  and  provides 
an  opportunity  of  pressing  into  service  those  yoiuig 
men  who  hitherto  have  been  imrelated  to  the  prosecu- 
tion of  Christian  work.  Hence  such  work  will  react 
favorably  upon  the  association  itself. 

2.  It  provides  an  opportunity  for  the  association  to 
become  a  factor  in  civic  righteousness,  by  educating 
young  men  with  reference  to  the  needs  of  the  city  and 
thus  promoting  their  enlistment  in  service  for  the 
securing  of  better  living  and  working  conditions 
through  public  utilities. 

To  facilitate  such  instruction  I  am  preparing  a 
series  of  studies  in  personal  and  public  hygiene.  In 
these  studies,  which  I  am  presenting  at  the  request  of 
the  committee,  I  have  endeavored  to  make  them  (i) 
short  —  there  are  but  fifteen  lessons  in  personal  hygiene 
and  twelve  in  commimity  hygiene.  More  men  will 
enroll  for  a  short  course  than  for  a  long  one  and  large 
numbers  of  men  are  desired.  (2)  The  courses  are  non- 
technical. Practically  no  anatomy  or  physiology  is 
taught.  An  endeavor  is  made  to  relate  the  teaching 
to  the  men's  present  needs  and  to  tell  them  how  to  meet 
them  so  as  to  alter  living  habits.  We  desire  to  relate 
the  studies  to  life,  to  teach  men  to  live  hygienically 
and  thus  to  make  for  efficiency.     The  knowledge  on 


PERSONAL   AND   COMMUNITY   HYGIENE     109 

the  part  of  men  in  the  simplest  matters  pertaining  to 
personal  hygiene  is  greatly  limited  and  frequently 
fallacious. 

The  plan  followed  in  each  lesson  is  to  make  a  number 
of  statements  which  are  most  important  in  reference 
to  the  subject  and  frequently  to  make  some  personal 
application.  Two  text  books  are  used,  namely,  "The 
Human  Mechanism,"  by  Hough  and  Sedgwick,  and  the 
"Efficient  Life,"  by  Gulick.  The  former  is  used  as 
the  text  book  chiefly  and  the  latter  for  popular  reading 
on  the  subject.  Additional  references  are  given  for 
more  complete  study  of  each  topic  for  the  teacher  of 
the  course  or  advanced  students.  The  text  books  cost 
$2.00  and  $1.20  respectively.  A  smaller  edition  of  the 
first  text  book  can  be  used.  This  can  be  secured  for 
$1.00.  The  books  for  extended  reading  vary  in  cost 
and  their  use  is  optional. 

The  course  in  personal  hygiene  involves  one  lesson 
each  in  the  following  subjects:  Exercise,  bathing, 
sleep  and  rest,  fatigue,  diet,  constipation,  treatment  of 
colds,  care  of  the  teeth,  care  of  nose,  throat,  and  ear, 
hygiene  of  the  feet,  use  of  stimulants  and  drugs,  hygiene 
of  the  eye,  states  of  mind,  and  states  of  body.  One 
study  on  sexual  hygiene  is  added,  as,  being  inserted  as 
a  part  of  a  general  course  in  personal  hygiene,  it  rep- 
resents a  logical  and  pedagogical  method  of  teaching 
the  subject. 

The  course  in  commimity  hygiene  consists  of  the 
following  subjects:  Infectious  diseases  and  their 
prevention,  a  study  of  some  specific  diseases  and  their 
transmission,  hygiene  of  occupation,  hygiene  of  trav- 
eling, adulteration  of  foods,  air  and  its  impurities, 
public  disposal  of  garbage,  ashes,  and  rubbish,  disposal 
of  sewage,  the  public  water  supply,  public  playgrounds, 
street  cleaning,  boards  of  health. 

The  arrangement  of  this  course  is  attended  with 


no     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

considerable  difficulty  as  there  is  so  little  available 
material.  The  text  books  are  very  limited  in  their 
discussion  of  the  topics  and  do  not  include  all  the  topics 
desired.  "The  Human  Mechanism,"  by  Hough  and 
Sedgwick,  is  used,  also  "Town  and  City,"  by  Jewett, 
and  "Manual  of  Hygiene  and  Sanitary  Science,"  by 
Wilson.  The  first  mentioned  is  scant  in  material  and 
the  second  is  too  elementary  for  men,  though  sugges- 
tive. The  third  costs  $3.50,  but  is  very  complete.  A 
splendid  book  on  the  subject  is  "Practical  Hygiene," 
by  Dr.  Harrington,  cost  $4.25  net. 

In  teaching  this  course  the  club  idea  is  suggested, 
and  it  is  advised  that  wherever  possible  the  city  official 
in  charge  of  the  public  utility  referred  to  be  invited 
to  address  the  class  following  the  regular  study,  and 
that  a  quiz  be  held  following  the  address. 

Practical  questions  are  appended  to  each  lesson, 
such  as:  What  methods  are  used  with  reference  to 
street  cleaning  in  your  city?  How  is  it  controlled? 
Are  the  methods  efficient?  What  are  the  needs? 
What  can  you  do  about  it?  The  studies  throughout 
are  so  arranged  as  to  develop  action. 


THE  MORAL  TRAINING   OF  THE   NEW 
AMERICANS 

REV.  FREDERICK  H:  MEANS 

WINCHESTER,    MASS. 

This  paper  is  intended  to  make  clear  just  three 
things : 

1 .  What  the  forces  are  which  are  now  at  work ; 

2.  Places  where  enlarged  effort  is  needed; 

3.  Methods  of  arousing  public  opinion. 


MORAL  TRAINING  OF  AMERICANS        m 


I.     THE  FORCES  NOW  AT  WORK 

The  American  public  school  is  the  greatest  single 
force  in  assimilating  foreigners.  It  is  assuredly  a 
great  force  in  affecting  their  moral  character  as  well 
as  their  mental  life ;  even  although  definite  instruction 
in  morals  and  religion  be  excluded.  The  personality 
and  the  high  character  of  most  of  the  teachers,  the 
atmosphere  and  spirit  of  the  schools,  their  neatness, 
order,  discipline,  and  in  recent  years  the  attractiveness 
of  the  schoolrooms,  as  well  as  the  illustrations  of  local 
self-government  which  the  schools  afford,  all  combine 
to  make  them  a  great  formative  influence  during  the 
plastic  years  of  character-building. 

Yet  how  many  of  their  pupils  succumb  to  morally 
destructive  influences  of  various  kinds!  To  make  the 
schools  more  effective  in  moral  training,  there  is  need 
of  a  reintroduction  of  teaching  concerning  the  ftmda- 
mental  virtues  and  laws  of  character;  and,  if  possible, 
of  suggestive,  undogmatic  teaching  of  fundamental 
religious  convictions.  We  must  concern  ourselves 
here  more  particularly  with  those  forms  of  training, 
outside  of  the  ordinary  schools,  which  are  definitely 
and  explicitly  directed  to  the  ends  of  moral  develop- 
ment. 

First  of  all,  we  find  adaptations  of  several  features 
of  our  public -school  system,  applied  for  the  benefit  of 
newcomers  to  our  coiintry,  or  of  their  children. 

The  kindergarten  has  been  long  recognized  and  util- 
ized as  a  moral  agency.  For  the  children  of  the  very 
poor,  it  supplies  many  influences  (among  them  those 
of  kindness  and  courtesy,  fairness  and  honesty)  that 
are  lacking  at  home.  Free  kindergartens  gather  in 
many  of  the  immigrant  children.  Bohemian  churches 
in  Baltimore  fill  their  Sunday-school  rooms  with 
happy  children  on  week-day  mornings.     The  settle- 


112     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

ments  and  the  institutional  churches  are  also  using 
this  method  of  early  moral  influence. 

The  night  schools  are  an  especially  important  adjunct 
of  the  public-school  system,  for  they  serve  the  needs  of 
adult  immigrants  in  getting  adjusted  to  our  ways  and 
receiving  the  stimulus  of  our  civilization.  Sometimes 
the  town,  sometimes  the  church,  and  sometimes  the 
Y.M.C.A.  takes  the  lead  in  starting  these.  In  Natick, 
Mass.,  about  thirty  or  forty  foreigners,  mostly  Alban- 
ians, were  gathered  into  evening  classes  at  one  of  the 
churches  and  taught  by  church  people  on  two  evenings 
weekly.  The  next  year  the  town  followed  suit  and 
provided  four  evenings  a  week  of  instruction  for  about 
four  months  which  benefited  between  80  and  100  for- 
eigners, mostly  the  younger  men.  In  Wellesley,  Mass., 
the  Congregational  Church  is  conducting  evening  classes 
for  Italians.  In  these  and  himdreds  of  other  similar 
cases  the  motive  of  Christian  helpfulness  is  so  strong 
that  the  work  becomes  essentially  one  of  Christian  char- 
acter-building, or  moral  training  in  its  highest  sense. 

This  same  is  true  to  a  large  degree  of  the  ' '  Labor 
Camp  Schools''  started  among  the  Italians  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  by  the  "Society  for  Italian  Immi- 
grants." Look  into  the  reports  of  Miss  Moore's  work 
and  you  find  it  one  of  the  most  valuable  moral  agencies, 
greatly  appreciated  by  the  eager  and  willing  laborers. 
This,  too,  has  been  taken  up  by  the  state  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. If  time  permitted  I  should  speak  fully  of  va- 
cation schools,  city  playgroimds,  fresh-air  charities 
(including  the  country  week,  boys'  camps  in  summer 
and  floating  hospitals)  and  the  admirable  work  of 
many  hundreds  of  district  visiting  nurses.  All  these, 
with  many  other  philanthropies,  are  a  great  power  for 
good  among  the  incoming  millions. 

I  must  say  a  word  further  about  the  influence  ex- 
erted by  Children's  Aid  Societies  and  Boys'  Clubs, 


MORAL  TRAINING   OF  AMERICANS         113 

In  Boston,  Lincoln  House  furnishes  a  conspicuous 
example  of  successful  settlement  work  for  boys.  From 
Lincoln  House  and  from  the  Newsboys'  Clubs  in 
Boston,  from  the  Methodist  Settlement  on  Hull  Street, 
which  centers  in  a  medical  mission,  young  men  have 
been  started  on  a  career  which  led  them  through  Har- 
vard College  into  professional  service  for  their  own 
peoples  —  Irish,  Hebrew,  Italian  or  Polish.  Such  in- 
stances might  be  matched  from  the  story  of  South 
End  House,  Denison  House,  Hale  House  and  Willard 
House  in  Boston  and  from  scores  of  similar  settlements 
in  other  cities. 

These,  of  course,  are  sporadic  cases,  yet  they  illus- 
trate the  moral  effect  that  is  being  made  in  thousands 
of  quarters  upon  scores  of  thousands  of  immigrants. 
Nevertheless,  it  remains  true  that  the  masses,  such  as 
New  York's  750,000  Jews  and  450,000  Italians,  the 
100,000  Bohemians  of  Chicago,  and  the  like,  can  only 
be  adequately  cared  for  by  working  upon  the  next  gen- 
eration. Their  children  must  be  influenced  en  masse 
by  movements  of  much  wider  scope. 

Some  Sunday  schools  are  giving  moral  and  religious 
instruction  on  this  larger  scale.  Great  institutional 
churches,  such  as  St.  George's  and  St.  Bartholomew's 
in  New  York,  Dr.  Scudder's  in  Jersey  City,  Bethany 
Sunday  school  and  Grace  Temple  in  Philadelphia, 
Halsted  Street  Institutional  Church  (Methodist)  in 
Chicago,  and  others  like  them  are  doing  broad  and  far- 
reaching  work. 

As  for  the  ordinary  down-town  churches,  they  have 
been  in  the  past  largely  deserted  by  pastors  and  work- 
ers in  the  summer  season,  and  their  doors  closed  much 
of  the  time.  A  new  plan  which  is  proving  most  suc- 
cessful was  begun  under  Baptist  auspices  and  is  now 
receiving  much  wider  application  in  the  churches  of  the 
country  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Robert  Boville. 


n4     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

I  refer  to  the  Vacation  Bible  Schools*  of  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Buffalo,  Providence  and  other  cities. 
Some  of  the  best  of  our  college  students  are  here 
brought  into  contact  with  some  of  the  most  needy  of 
the  children  of  the  tenements.  The  days  of  running 
wild  in  summer  are  turned  into  a  most  profitable  kind 
of  moral  training,  without  that  sort  of  pressure  which 
numbers  and  grades  create  dtiring  the  regular  school 
terms.  One  hour  each  morning  is  taken  up  with 
songs,  Bible  stories,  and  moral  teaching  by  illustra- 
tions. Another  hour  of  the  short  session  is  devoted  to 
industrial  work,  and  in  some  cities  the  afternoon  plays 
of  the  children  are  supervised  by  the  teachers. 

Time  forbids  anything  more  than  a  mention  of  cor- 
respondence schools,  free  public-lecture  courses,  and 
the  new  plans  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  for  aiding  immigrant 
young  men,  on  their  way  here  and  upon  their  first 
arrival. 

This  series  of  agencies  includes  a  mighty  army  of 
workers  for  the  best  moral  training  of  the  new  Amer- 
icans. It  is  dependent  upon  private  support,  for  the 
most  part,  but  works  with  the  public  institutions, 
both  stimulating  them  and  being  stimulated  by  them 
to  better  efforts. 


PLACES    WHERE    NEW    STRENGTH    IS    NEEDED 

It  is  plain  that  a  great  expansion  of  night-school 
work  is  needed  for  the  sake  of  moral  influence  upon 
foreigners.  Prof.  Prince  of  Columbia  called  attention  a 
year  agof  to  the  fact  that  in  New  Jersey  in  1900,  out  of 
86,658  illiterate  people,  59,307  were  of  foreign  birth. 
The  night  schools  and  camp  schools  seem  to  be  the 

•See  "Religious  Education,"  June,  1907;  also  paper  by  Prof. 
Milton  G.  Evans,  p.  84,  in  this  volume. 

f  Charities  and  Commons,  Issue  of  Feb.  16,  1907. 


MORAL   TRAINING   OF  AMERICANS         115 

only  part  of  our  public-school  system  which  can  render 
effective  help  to  the  adtdt  immigrants,  although  public- 
lecture  courses  and  "educational  centres"  are  of  some 
service.  When  dealing  with  adults  the  aim  of  civic  in- 
struction, in  the  rights  and  duties  of  citizenship  and  the 
true  principles  of  our  democracy,  is  naturally  brought 
to  the  front. 

The  Cooper  Union  of  New  York  City,  the  People's 
Institute  of  Newark,  the  Wells  Memorial  of  Boston, 
are  types  of  private  institutions  which  exert  large 
moral  influence.  They  need  to  be  multiplied  and 
enlarged. 

The  trades  unions  are  a  tremendous  influence  for 
better  or  worse ;  usually,  I  believe,  for  the  better  over 
the  foreigners.  It  is  therefore  a  most  encouraging 
sign  that  in  several  leading  denominations,  the  Con- 
ferences of  Ministers  and  Central  Labor  Unions  are 
sending  "fraternal  delegates"  to  each  other's  meetings. 
Under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Department  of  Church  and  Labor,  this 
move  toward  better  mutual  imderstanding,  and  sym- 
pathy in  moral  issues,  seems  to  be  gaining  headway. 
The  unions,  when  working  for  conciliation  and  for 
adherence  to  contract,  as  well  as  for  higher  wages,  be- 
come a  most  potent  agency  of  moral  training.* 

There  are  other  unsectarian  efforts  being  made  to 
foster  a  more  definitely  Christian  purpose  among  the 
men  of  the  unions,—  such  as  shop-meetings  at  the  noon 
hour,  reading  and  lodging  rooms,  supplied  by  the  rail- 
roads and  the  Industrial  Y.M.C.A's.  These  are  thor- 
oughly worthy  of  larger  support  and  they  need  it.  If 
all  the  Goulds  were  Helen  Goulds  and  all  the  Hazen 
Hydes  were  men  of  the  Stokes  and  Peabody  sort,  new 
financial  strength  would  be  forthcoming  in  the  places 
where  it  is  most  needed. 

*  See  "  The  Slav  Invasion,"  by  F.  D.  Warne. 


ii6     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

But  the  world  does  move,  often  faster  than  we  give 
it  credit  for  doing ;  another  waymark  of  its  moral  orbit 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  new  attitude  toward  employees, 
many  of  whom  are  foreigners,  as  evidenced  by  the 
"welfare  work"  now  connected  with  many  of  the  best 
manufacturing  establishments,  and  by  the  employment 
of  social  secretaries  by  great  industries.  The  United 
States  Government  is  setting  a  good  example  in  Pan- 
ama. The  Plymouth  Cordage  Co.,  for  their  1,500  or 
more  employees,  the  larger  part  of  whom  are  Germans 
and  Italians,  have  provided  a  model  dining-room,  a 
gem  of  a  library,  with  pictures,  papers  and  books  from 
the  foreigners'  countries.  They  have  a  bath-house 
and  play  ground  and  arrange  an  annual  fair,  with 
agricultural  and  domestic  as  well  as  athletic  prizes 
Finally,  they  provide  church  buildings  at  slight  expense 
for  the  use  of  German  Lutherans  and  Italian  Protest- 
ants, the  latter  numbering  well  over  100. 

Such  investment  of  capital,  illustrating  the  possi- 
bilities of  Christian  service,  via  the  industrial  plant, 
is  thus  far  all  too  rare,  but  it  is  becoming  more  general. 
Fifty  years  from  now  it  may  be  universal  for  an  em- 
ployer to  look  to  the  housing  of  his  employees  as  care- 
fully as  he  does  to  the  stabling  of  his  draft  horses,  and 
to  care  for  their  moral  good  and  their  welfare  in  old 
age  as  much  as  he  cares  now  for  their  proper  skill  in 
the  line  of  work  they  are  engaged  to  do. 

More  kindergartens,  boys'  clubs,  settlements  and 
vacation  Bible  schools  are  needed.  Successful  at- 
tempts have  been  made  by  various  denominations  to 
train  foreigners'  for  work  among  their  fellow  country- 
men ;  but  they  have  been  upon  a  small  scale  and  need 
to  be  greatly  enlarged.  When  the  Protestant  denom- 
inations learn  to  pull  together  in  this  matter,  as  they 
are  beginning  to  do,  there  will  be  much  better  prospect 
of  the  needed  enlargement. 


MORAL  TRAINING   OF  AMERICANS         117 

All  these  considerations  call  for  some  effective 


METHODS   OF    ROUSING   PUBLIC    OPINION 

The  great  increase  in  immigration  during  the  past 
few  years  has,  in  itself,  kept  this  whole  subject  to  the 
front.  Men  most  familiar  with  the  facts  —  like  Com- 
missioner Watchom,  Dr.  Hillis,  Chairman  Storrow  of 
the  Boston  School  Board  —  have  shown  that  immi- 
gration is  not  ' '  the  root  of  all  evils ;"  that  while  in  cer- 
tain aspects  it  is  menacing,  yet  the  character  of  newly 
arrived  immigrants  is  not  so  low  as  commonly  supposed. 
They  are  raw  material  but  they  are  good  raw  material 
if  properly  dealt  with,  and  not  allowed  to  go  to  the 
scrap-heap  or  the  junk-shop  the  first  thing,. 

Public  opinion  has  sanctioned  and  supported  vast 
additions  to  school  facilities.  Will  it  be  equally  ready 
to  support  adult  classes  and  labor-camp  schools  on  an 
adequate  scale?  The  prospect  is  encouraging.  Such 
societies  as  that  for  Italian  Immigrants,  the  Hebrew 
Societies,  and  the  like  produce  a  good  effect  on  public 
opinion.  Americanized  immigrants,  men  of  a  high 
order  like  Jacob  Riis,  Commissioner  Watchom,  Prof. 
Steiner,  Prof.  Rauschenbusch  and  his  son,  and,  in  the 
next  generation,  Mr.  Stelzle  and  the  Schaufflers,  are 
doing  an  immense  service  in  shaping  public  opinion 
aright.  To  read  and  to  advocate  the  reading  of  their 
books  will  help  to  form  public  opinion.  No  novel  is 
more  interesting  than  Riis's  ' '  Making  of  an  American ;" 
no  travel  book  more  fascinating  than  ' '  On  the  Trail  of 
the  Immigrant,"  by  Prof.  Steiner. 

I  have  reserved  for  final  mention  what  I  consider, 
from  a  close  acquaintance,  to  be  the  most  effective 
method  for  rousing  and  directing  an  intelligent  public 
opinion  on  this  subject.  That  is,  the  careful  and  sys- 
tematic attention  that  is  being  given  to  the  problems 


ii8     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

of  immigration  and  city  life  by  the  members  of  mission- 
study  classes  scattered  through  the  churches  of  prac- 
tically every  protestant  denomination  in  our  country. 
Since  July  i,  1906,  Dr.  Grose's  ' '  Aliens  or  Americans  ?" 
has  been  circulated  and  studied  to  the  extent  of  53,000 
copies.  Dr.  Josiah  Strong's  new  book  on  ' '  The  Chal- 
lenge of  the  City"  was  put  on  sale  the  ist  of  last  Sep- 
tember and  40,000  copies  have  been  sold  through  the 
various  home  missionary  boards  up  to  February  12th, 
1908.  An  intelligent  opinion,  based  on  inquiry,  and 
full  of  earnest  purpose,  is  shaping  itself  rapidly  on  these 
questions.  If  it  is  led  and  fostered  by  the  men  in  all 
professions  who  are  the  natural  leaders  of  public  opinion 
in  a  way  that  corresponds  with  the  great  importance 
of  this  subject  it  should  produce  in  the  near  futiu^e  a 
great  broadening  and  intensifying  of  efforts  for  the 
moral  and  Christian  uplift  of  the  new  Americans. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  FORMATION  OF 
RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL  IDEALS 

ISMAR  J.  PERITZ,  Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR    SYRACUSE    UNIVERSITY,    SYRACUSE,    NEW    YORK 

Our  task  in  relation  to  religious  and  moral  affairs  I 
conceive  to  be  twofold :  we  must,  first,  seek  to  enforce 
the  best  ideals  that  are  current  among  us ;  but,  secondly, 
we  must  see  to  it  that  the  ideals  themselves  reach  up  to 
the  standard  that  the  state  of  knowledge  of  our  time 
demands ;  and  it  is  to  the  latter  of  these  phases  that  I 
wish  to  address  myself.  I  proceed  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  religion  and  ethics  are  historical  and  pro- 
gressive sciences ;  and  although  we  are  in  the  light  of 
the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  behooves  us  still  to  say 
in  reference  not  only  to  practice  but  also  to  ideals, 
"  Not  that  I  have  already  obtained,  or  am  already  made 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL   IDEALS  119 

perfect."  For  while  we  may  well  believe  that  in 
Christianity  religion  and  ethics  have  reached  their 
culmination,  the  merest  glance  at  history  makes  it 
clear  that  each  age  has  used  them  in  its  own  way  to 
form  its  ideals  of  life.  But  the  attempts  of  the  past 
and  the  peculiarity  of  oiir  own  age  demand  that  we  set 
ourselves  to  do  our  task.  In  view  of  the  material 
progress  of  our  age,  the  discovery  of  new  forces  and  the 
invention  of  new  appliances;  in  view  of  our  intellec- 
tual progress  through  the  influx  of  all  sorts  of  new  facts 
in  every  sphere  of  knowledge ;  in  view  of  the  widening 
of  our  national  horizon,  the  broadening  of  our  interests 
and  sympathies  touching  other  nations  of  the  world; 
and  in  view  of  the  awakened  feeling  and  the  assertion  of 
the  rights  of  the  individual ;  in  view  of  all  these  and  the 
many  other  elements  of  our  complicated  conditions, 
what  are  to  be  our  religious  and  moral  ideals  ? 

There  is  no  discipline  in  University  teaching  that 
might  not  in  some  measure  contribute  to  the  formation 
of  our  ideals;  yet  some  studies  are  apt  to  yield  more 
richly,  viz.,  philosophy  and  ethics,  psychology,  sociol- 
ogy, the  comparative  study  of  religions;  but  as  the 
Bible  is  still  the  imsurpassed  source  and  authority  in 
matters  of  morals  and  religion,  our  greatest  help  is  likely 
to  come  from  a  reverent  but  critical  and  historical 
study  of  the  Bible.  And  wherein  this  kind  of  study 
with  the  aid  of  the  others  mentioned  has  tended  to 
modify  and  fashion  our  ideals  I  now  proceed  to  indicate. 

It  has  gradually  become  apparent  that  biblical  re- 
ligion and  ethics  are  not  of  one  but  of  three  types, 
represented  respectively  by  the  sage,  the  priest,  and 
the  prophet.  The  sage,  whose  ideals  we  find  in  the 
books  of  Job,  Proverbs,  and  Ecclesiastes,  is  compar- 
atively speaking,  temperately  religious  and  moral: 
the  fear  of  Jehovah  is  in  his  view  the  beginning  of  wis- 
dom ;  he  is  a  religious  philosopher,  intellectual  and  re- 


I20     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

flective ;  but  he  lacks  warmth  and  energy,  enthusiasm 
and  aggressiveness ;  he  favors  diplomacy,  caution,  and 
the  avoiding  of  extremes,  and  advises  that  people  be  not 
"righteous  overmuch"  nor  "overmuch  wicked;"  he 
divides  mankind  into  two  classes,  fools  and  wicked  on 
the  one  hand,  and  wise  and  good  on  the  other,  and  he 
thinks  it  both  more  agreeable  and  profitable  to  teach 
the  wise  and  good,  and  leave  the  wicked  and  fools  alone : 

"  He  who  corrects  a  scoffer  gets  insult. 

And  he  who  reproves  a  wicked  man,  reviling. 

Reprove  not  a  scoffer  lest  he  hate  thee; 

Reprove  a  wise  man,  and  he  will  love  thee. 

Give  (instruction)  to  a  wise  man,  and  he  will  be 
yet  wiser ; 

Teach  a  righteous  man,  and  he  will  gain  more  in- 
struction."—  Prov.  ix.  7-9. 

The  sage  betrays  no  strong  personality,  and  there  is 
nothing  of  the  moral  heroism  of  the  martyr  about  him ; 
by  his  appreciation  of  moral  excellence  and  his  effort 
to  perpetuate  and  diffuse  it,  he  exercised  unquestion- 
ably a  strong  moral  influence;  but  had  Israel  had  no 
other  type  of  religion  and  ethics,  it  would  never  have 
achieved  its  preeminence  in  the  progress  of  the  world. 
The  priest  with  the  motto  "  Holiness  unto  Jehovah  " 
aimed  on  the  whole  at  personal,  social,  and  civic 
righteousness.  But  the  elaborate  ceremonial,  which 
might  convey  spiritual  and  moral  truths,  became  in- 
stead of  a  means  to  this  end,  the  end  itself,  degen- 
erating into  a  lifeless  formalism.  A  further  tendency 
of  the  priestly  type  of  religion  was  its  emphasis  upon 
barriers,  "middle  wall  of  partition,"  as  St.  Paul 
calls  them,  between  man  and  man,  dividing  Jews  from 
gentiles,  man  from  woman,  priest  from  layman,  and 
God  from  man.  The  grotmd  plan  of  Herod's  temple, 
with  its  high  wall  of  enclosure,  its  court  of  the  gentiles, 
its  court  of  the  women,  its  court  of  the  men  of  Israel, 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL   IDEALS  121 

its  Holy  Place  for  the  priests,  and  its  Holy  of  Holies 
for  the  high  priest,  barring  at  each  step  the  approach 
of  all  others  except  a  more  privileged  class,  is  a  true 
picture  of  priestly  ideals,  which,  however,  were  to  give 
way  upon  the  "bringing  in"  of  a  "better  hope. " 

But  by  far  the  most  active,  influential,  and  vital 
religious  and  moral  force  is  represented  by  the  prophet 
of  Israel.  It  is  becoming  quite  generally  recognized 
that  the  prophet  is  the  unique  contribution  of  Israel  to 
the  religious  and  moral  welfare  of  the  world  and 
that  no  other  religion  had  anything  quite  like  him. 
Appearing  with  the  dawn  of  Hebrew  history  itself, 
prophetism  had  its  own  growth  and  development,  its 
own  struggles  and  ideals,  misunderstood,  unappreciated 
and  persecuted  unto  death,  but  never  weary  of  offering 
afresh  its  way  of  life,  and  culminating  at  last  in  the 
teachings,  the  life,  and  death  of  the  greatest  of  all  the 
prophets,  the  Prophet  of  Nazareth. 

I.  The  prophetic  ideal  is,  in  the  first  place,  pre- 
eminently and  primarily  moral.  The  prophet  has  a 
passion  for  righteousness.  It  seems  a  commonplace  to 
say  that  he  values  it  above  the  most  faithful  observ- 
ance of  mere  religious  customs: 

"  Hath  Jehovah  delight  in  offerings  and  sacrifices, 
As  in  obeying  the  voice  of  Jehovah  ? 
Behold,  obedience  is  better  than  sacrifice. 
And  to  hearken  than  the  fat  of  rams.  " 

It  is  the  same  conviction  that  makes  Isaiah  say : 

"What  luito  me  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices? 
saith  Jehovah:  ....  yea,  when  ye  make 
many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear:  your  hands  are  full  of 
blood.  Wash  you,  make  you  clean;  put  away  the  evil 
of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes ;  cease  to  do  evil ; 
learn  to  do  well;  seek  justice,  relieve  the  oppressed, 
judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow." 


122     EDUCATION    AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

Nay,  the  prophets  prefer  righteousness  to  material 
welfare  and  even  national  existence.  Thus  the  proph- 
ets Amos  and  Hosea  who  declare  Jehovah's  love  for 
Israel  as  the  nation  of  his  choice,  at  the  same  time  de- 
clare the  doom  of  the  nation  on  account  of  its  sins: 
"  You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth : 
therefore  I  will  visit  upon  you  all  your  iniquities;" 
giving  expression  to  the  sublime  though  radical  sent- 
iment that  however  much  Jehovah  may  love  his  people 
he  loves  righteousness  more,  and  that  in  the  interest 
of  righteousness  he  will  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  his 
people.  It  was  this  same  passion  for  righteousness  that 
caused  the  Master  to  make  his  whip  of  cords ;  and  on 
another  occasion  made  him  say :  "  Go  ye  and  learn  what 
this  meaneth,  I  desire  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice." 

2.  The  prophetic  ideal,  in  the  second  place,  is 
social.  The  prophets  were  no  mere  theorists;  they 
were  practical  men  of  affairs,  seeking  to  establish 
equitable  relations  between  man  and  man,  and  work- 
ing to  bring  about  that  universal  social  order  when 
men  "shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and 
their  spears  into  pruning-hooks ;  nation  shall  not  lift 
up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war 
any  more.  But  they  shall  sit  every  man  under  his 
vine  and  imder  his  fig  tree ;  and  none  shall  make  them 
afraid. "  To  bring  to  realization  this  ideal,  the  proph- 
et attacks  the  social  vices  of  his  day  among  high  and 
low;  but  his  special  effort  is  directed  toward  the  de- 
fence of  the  rights  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  against 
those  who  in  their  avarice  "join  house  to  house,  that 
lay  field  to  field,  till  there  be  no  room"  for  the  common 
man;  that  sell  the  "righteous  for  silver,  and  the  needy 
for  the  pittance  of  a  pair  of  shoes;  that  thirst  so  for 
more  landed  wealth  that  they  "pant  after  the  dust 
of  the  earth ' '  that  had  settled  ' '  on  the  head  of  the  poor. ' ' 

With  the  prophet  of  Nazareth  the  national  ideal  be- 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   IDEALS  123 

comes  the  iiniversal ;  and  the  conception  of  the"  King- 
dom of  God"  signifies  that  regenerated  order  of  society, 
based  upon  the  sermon  on  the  mount  as  well  as  upon  the 
decalogue,  in  which  the  principle  contained  in  the 
saying:  "He  that  hath  two  coats,  let  him  impart  to 
him  that  hath  none  ;  and  he  that  hath  food,  let  him  do 
likewise,"  is  as  sacred  and  binding  as  "Thou  shalt  not 
steal;"  or  "Thou  shalt  not  kill;"  and  this  prophetic 
ideal  of  a  universal  well-regulated  state  of  society, 
where  each  has  a  full  and  equal  chance  for  the  training 
and  development  of  the  best  that  is  within  him,  is  the 
inspiration  and  hope  of  all  those  who  are  zealous  for 
the  moral  and  spiritual  betterment  of  the  nation  and 
the  world. 

3.  The  prophetic  ideal,  in  the  third  place,  is  demo- 
cratic. Herein  the  prophet  is  in  absolute  contrast 
with  the  priest:  he  knows  of  no  class  distinction. 
There  were  no  priestesses  in  the  Hebrew  religion,  but 
there  were  prophetesses;  and  luider  the  prophetic 
ideal  woman  loses  the  stigma  of  inferiority  and  comes 
to  her  full  rights.  In  like  manner  it  breaks  down  all 
other  artificial  barriers,  dividing  men  into  hostile 
camps ;  and  thus  the  possibility  opens  up  for  the  real- 
ization of  the  vmiversal  brotherhood  of  man. 

4.  The  prophetic  ideal,  in  the  fourth  place,  is 
religious.  The  prophets  unquestionably  lived  in  con- 
scious fellowship  with  God.  The  new  term  "The 
Christian  consciousness,"  is  witness  to  the  fact  that 
modem  psychology,  philosophy,  and  theology  have 
come  to  recognize  the  reality  and  importance  of  the 
religious  experience  of  living  in  conscious  fellowship 
with  God.  Herein  lies  our  security  when  engaging  in 
the  speculative  problems  that  meet  us  all  around;  as 
Professor  Cheyne,  of  Oxford  University,  said  to  me, 
there  is  no  danger,  if  men  will  keep  in  touch  with  the 
God  of  the  prophets  and  the  God  of  Jesus  Christ. 


124     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

The  prophetic  ideal,  thus  imperfectly  sketched,  has 
gradually  emerged  and  become  segregated  as  at  once 
the  noblest  in  the  history  of  divine  revelation  and  the 
best  fitted  to  meet  the  knowledge  and  conditions  of  our 
age.  It  has  become  the  standard  by  which  both  the 
present  and  the  past  must  be  estimated.  If  religion 
and  ethics  are  historical  and  progressive  sciences,  it  is 
only  the  forms  in  which  they  reached  their  highest 
point  of  development  that  are  valid  for  us.  Thus 
prophetic  religion  and  morals  reached  their  most  per- 
fect form  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  he  becomes 
the  touchstone  by  which  to  test  all  that  preceded  and 
followed  him. 

In  the  application  of  this  principle  of  criticism, 
many  an  old  saint  loses  his  halo  and  comes  from  his 
pedestal  to  earth.  The  patriarchal  stories  undergo 
careful  scrutiny,  and  the  morally  reprehensible  is  not 
condoned,  but  set  in  its  true  light.  Joseph  is  still  the 
noble  example  of  chastity;  but  the  manner  in  which 
he  used  the  shortage  of  com  to  reduce  to  serfdom  the 
Egyptians,  and  wherein  not  a  few  rulers  of  the  earth 
found  him  a  convenient  example  for  imitation,  is  not 
approved  by  the  moral  sense  of  our  day.  In  Hke 
manner  has  passed  out  of  fashion  the  treachery,  the 
spirit  of  revenge,  and  the  indiscriminate  cruelty  that 
characterized  the  warfare  of  former  saints.  When 
King  David  is  spoken  of  as  the  man  "after  God's  own 
heart,"  it  is  no  longer  with  eyes  but  half  open  to  his 
glaring  moral  and  social  wrongs,  and  with  the  former 
zeal  to  palliate  them,  so  as  not  to  lose  him  as  an  example 
of  religious  enthusiasm.  It  is  felt  now  as  never  before 
that  Solomon's  proverbial  reputation  for  "wisdom" 
needs  to  be  counterbalanced  by  the  historical  fact  that 
he  so  overburdened  his  subjects  with  enforced  labor 
and  taxation  for  his  many  building  projects  that  when 
they  could  obtain  no  relief  from  his  successor  they 


RELIGIOUS   AND   MORAL   IDEALS  125 

broke  out  in  open  rebellion  and  rent  the  nation  astinder. 
We  can  no  longer  commend  the  religious  zeal  of  Samuel 
who  "hewed  Agag  to  pieces  before  Jehovah  in  Gilgal;" 
nor  the  zeal  of  Jehu  by  which  he  sought  to  drive  Baal- 
ism out  of  Israel  by  the  ruse  of  inviting  the  Baal  wor- 
shipers to  a  feast  in  honor  of  Baal  in  his  temple,  and 
then  slaying  his  defenceless  victims  with  the  edge  of 
the  sword.  Though  this  first  wholesale  religious  per- 
secution received  its  condemnation  by  a  true  prophet 
who  declared  that  Jehovah  would  "  avenge  the  blood  of 
Jezreel  upon  the  house  of  Jehu,"  he  has  ever  been  the 
shining  example  appealed  to  in  justification  of  religious 
persecution. 

It  is  not  an  agreeable  task  to  have  to  point  out  the 
faults  of  people ;  but  in  the  interest  of  high  moral  and 
religious  ideals,  this  negative  phase  is  as  essential  as 
the  positive.  To  seek  to  break  the  influence  of  lower 
standards  is  as  important  as  to  make  potent  the  higher. 
We  sometimes  meet  with  a  popular  discontent  and  im- 
patience over  what  is  called  negative  criticism,  as,  for 
instance,  an  editorial  remark  in  a  newspaper,  "  Is  it  not 
about  time  to  give  Jonah  and  the  whale  a  rest  ? "  which 
seems  to  suppose  that  "modernism"  has  only  an  aca- 
demic interest,  and  might  just  as  well  be  dispensed 
with.  The  fact,  however,  is  that  if  our  ideals  are  to  be 
effective,  they  must  be  clear-cut.  But  it  has  become 
apparent  that  indiscriminate  use  of  biblical  material 
which  goes  as  readily  to  Jacob,  Samson,  and  David 
for  lessons  of  highest  living  as  to  Isaiah,  Jesus,  and 
Paul  has  the  tendency  to  blur  the  ideals.  Who  does 
not  know  that  many  a  questionable  practice  has  been 
defended  by  an  appeal  to  the  Scripture  and  the  example 
of  some  former  saint  ?  And  is  it  not  due  in  large  meas- 
ure to  this  indefiniteness  that  so  many  lay  claim  to 
belief  in  the  Bible  and  to  being  religious  who  are  at 
the  same  time  flagrantly  immoral  ? 


126     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

It  is  thus  of  unsurpassed  importance  to  the  life  of 
our  nation  to  recognize  the  fact  that  religion  and  ethics 
have  their  history  of  development  and  that  the  pro- 
phetic ideal,  with  its  touch  of  God,  its  passion  for 
righteousness,  and  its  universal  social  benefits,  reach- 
ing its  climax  and  exemplification  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  is  the  only  one  valid  for  our  day.  It  is  no 
longer  the  question  whether  this  view  might  be  per- 
mitted to  exist  by  the  side  of  others ;  but  whether  any 
other  view  adequately  meets  the  knowledge  and  the 
religious,  moral,  and  social  requirements  of  our  time. 

Now,  the  part  that  the  universities  have  taken  in 
the  forming  of  this  ideal  and  the  part  they  have  yet  to 
take  is,  of  course,  of  the  greatest  importance. 

It  is  to  be  recognized,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  uni- 
versities have  furnished  the  scientific  atmosphere  and 
stimulus  that  have  brought  this  ideal  into  prominence. 
One  study  helps  the  other ;  and  research  in  one  depart- 
ment throws  its  helpful  light  into  another;  and  the 
honest  efforts  in  all  directions  bring  us  step  by  step 
nearer  to  ultimate  truth.  This  interrelation  of  all 
branches  of  science  finds  its  illustration  in  the  quicken- 
ing that  has  come  to  the  study  of  religion  from  the  crit- 
ical temper,  the  comparative  method,  and  the  broad 
outlook,  which  characterize  the  investigations  of  the 
sciences.  It  was  the  application  of  the  scientific  spirit 
and  method  to  biblical  and  related  problems  that  re- 
sulted in  bringing  forth  in  boldest  outlines  the  prophetic 
ideal  and  its  intrinsic  claim  to  universal  recognition. 
This  ideal  is  thus  the  result  of  the  scientific  work  car- 
ried on  in  our  universities,  the  justification  of  this  work, 
and  the  contribution  that  the  universities  are  making 
in  their  academic  work  to  the  fashioning  of  the  highest 
ideals. 

The  universities  have  yet  in  another  way  exerted  a 
beneficent  influence  in  favor  of  the  best  ideals,  namely, 


RELIGIOUS  AND   MORAL   IDEALS  127 

in  affording  opportunity  for  the  free  expression  of  pro- 
gressive thought.  Most  people  are  instinctively  ad- 
verse to  innovations,  as  the  Master  put  it,  "No  man 
having  drunk  old  wine  desire th  new ;  for  he  saith,  The 
old  is  good. "  It  consequently  takes  moral  courage  to 
propose  and  aid  the  new,  without  which,  of  course, 
progress  is  impossible.  But  the  universities  have,  on 
the  whole  (of  course,  there  are  exceptions),  allowed 
Lehrfreiheit ;  and  not  a  few  men  entrusted  with  the 
sacred  duty  of  teaching  have  preferred  the  sacrifice  of 
their  position  and  even  reputation  to  the  silencing  of 
their  convictions.  If  progress  is  only  possible  by  sac- 
rifice, the  cause  of  modem  religious  and  moral  ideals 
cannot  fail  on  account  of  the  lack  of  it.  The  great 
educational  centres  of  the  world  still  produce,  as  in 
former  days,  valiant  spirits  with  the  courage  of  their 
convictions  relative  to  highest  religious  and  moral 
truth. 

As  for  the  future,  the  outlook  is  most  hopeful.  This 
Religious  Education  Association,  with  its  high  objects 
and  educational  representatives,  and  this  convention, 
with  its  central  theme,  are  in  themselves  a  witness  to 
the  fact  that  the  universities  and  colleges  are  fully 
awake  to  the  responsibility  entailed  by  the  prestige  of 
their  intellectual  leadership  and  their  opportunity  of 
fashioning  the  leaders  of  the  future.  And  there  is  every 
reason  for  the  hope  that  stimulated  by  the  influence  of 
this  convention  our  schools,  by  continuing  their  work  of 
investigation,  seeking  for  further  moral  and  religious 
truths  along  the  line  indicated,  by  fearlessly  publishing 
and  defending  its  findings,  and  by  the  zeal  and  effort  to 
see  them  realized,  will  exert  their  share  of  the  influ- 
ence that  shall  tell  for  the  noblest  and  best  in  our  na- 
tion and  the  world. 


128     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION 
IN  STATE  UNIVERSITIES 

FRANCIS  W.  KELSEY 

PROFESSOR    UNIVERSITY    OF    MICHIGAN,    ANN    ARBOR,    MICH. 

Among  students  of  American  history  the  truth 
long  since  found  expression,  that  if  one  wishes  to  see 
the  untrammeled  outworking  of  our  national  tenden- 
cies, to  single  out  and  comprehend  that  which  is  dis- 
tinctly and  typically  American  in  our  institutions  and 
usages,  he  must  turn  away  from  the  sea-board  states, 
which  were  influenced  in  their  development  by  the 
circumstances  of  their  founding  and  by  their  inter- 
course with  countries  beyond  the  sea,  and  fix  his 
attention  upon  the  states  of  the  Middle  West  which, 
carved  out  of  the  Northwest  territory  and  the  Louisi- 
ana purchase,  have  had  a  development  more  free 
from  the  influence  of  local  traditions  and  from  external 
pressure. 

In  no  department  is  the  manifestation  of  this 
truth  more  clear  than  in  that  of  education.  Both  the 
primary  school,  the  secondary  school  and  the  college 
originated  in  the  sea-board  states;  but  in  the  Middle 
West  the  public  high  school  was  first  developed  as  a 
distinct  and  characteristic  educational  type.  In  New 
England,  and  elsewhere  in  the  East,  there  were  already 
in  existence  other  types  of  institution  of  secondary 
instruction  —  the  academy,  often  endowed,  and  the 
private  school.  But  the  public  high  school,  being 
better  adjusted  to  our  national  conditions  than  they, 
has  gained  upon  them  in  competition  and  now  dom- 
inates its  field  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States ;  to  see 
how  small  a  percentage  of  boys  and  girls  of  secondary 
age  are  enrolled  in  other  than  public  schools,  it  is  only 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  129 

necessary  to  glance  at  the  Reports  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Education,* 

The  development  of  the  State  University  in  the 
Middle  West  presents  an  instructive  parallel.  So 
far  from  being,  as  many  have  been  pleased  to  consider 
it,  an  abnormal  and  ephemeral  variant  from  the 
type  of  college  and  university  developed  in  the  sea- 
board states,  there  are  already  indications  that  the 
State  University  will  in  the  next  few  generations  be- 
come as  distinctively  the  dominant  type  in  its  partic- 
ular domain  as  the  high  school  now  is  in  the  secondary 
field.  This  does  not  mean  that  there  will  not  con- 
tinue to  be  colleges  and  universities  of  private  support ; 
such  are  required  by  the  social  need  as  independent 
foundations  to  stimulate  the  state  institutions  by  com- 
petition. The  founding  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
has  been  productive  of  unmixed  good  to  the  State 
Universities  in  the  central  region,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Stanford  University  is  a  not  unimportant 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  principal  State  Uni- 
versity of  the  Pacific  Coast.  It  does  mean,  how- 
ever, that  the  State  Universities  as  a  class  are  so  much 
better  adjusted  both  to  the  means  of  support  and 
to  the  needs  of  their  constituencies  than  the  institutions 
whose  existence  is  due  to  the  spasmodic  and  uncertain 
impulse  of  private  generosity,  that  in  a  large  number 
of  states  the  dominance  of  the  state  institution  is 
already  assured. 

*In  the  school  year  1889-90  the  total  enrollment  of  students  in  secondary 
schools  in  the  United  States  was  397,894;  of  this  number  203,96^  were  enrolled  in 
public  high  schools  and  94,931,  or  31.87  per  cent,  in  schools  of  private  support.  In 
1905-06  the  total  enrollment  was  824,447,  of  whom  722,692  were  in  public  high 
schools  and  101,755,  only  12.34  per  cent  of  the  entire  enrollment,  in  private  schools. 
No  account  is  here  taken  of  the  secondary  students  enrolled  in  Normal  schools, 
Gjlleges  and  Universities. 

The  number  of  public  high  schools  in  1890  was  2,526;  in  1906,  8,031.  In  the 
sixteen  years  the  number  of  secondary  schools  of  private  support  dropped  from 
1,632  to  1,529,  but  there  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  average  number  of  students 
enrolled  in  each  school.  The  statistics  are  tabulated  in  a  convenient  form  in  the 
RepKjrt  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1906,  Vol.  2,  pp.  697-698. 

One  phase  of  the  secularization  of  secondary  education  is  treated  in  "  Greek 
in  the  High  School  and  the  supply  of  candidates  for  the  Ministry"  in  The  School 
Review,  November,  1908. 


I30     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

As  a  type  the  State  University  may  be  conceived 
as  a  well-blended  composite  of  two  elements  of  diverse 
origin:  a  traditional  college  of  English  derivation, 
which  has  become  a  department  of  arts ;  and  special 
separate  faculties  of  the  German  tmiversity  type 
organized  as  departments  of  law,  medicine,  and 
engineering,  to  which  still  other  faculties  or  depart- 
ments, as  of  dentistry,  pharmacy,  and  agriculture,  are 
often  added.  The  significance  of  this  association  of 
collegiate  and  professional  work  upon  the  same  cam- 
pus lies  in  the  fact  that  the  State  University  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  public -school  system,  of  which  it 
stands  as  a  capstone;  so  far  as  secular  education  is 
concerned,  in  a  state  with  a  fully  developed  system 
there  is  no  gap  left  for  private  initiative  to  fill,  from 
the  beginning  of  elementary  instruction  to  the  end  of 
the  professional  course. 

It  has  again  and  again  been  pointed  out  that  rapid 
as  has  been  the  increase  of  our  institutions  of  higher 
education  in  student  attendance  the  increase  of  the 
expense  of  instruction  and  investigation  has  been 
much  more  rapid.  The  factors  which  enter  into  the 
permanency  of  any  institution  through  which  society 
reacts  upon  itself  are  chiefly  two,  economy  and  effi- 
ciency. First,  then,  the  economic  adjustment  of  the 
State  Universities,  their  relation  to  their  means  of  sup- 
port, is  much  more  stable  than  that  of  institutions  of 
private  endowment.  Productive  securities  of  all 
kinds  vary  constantly  in  value,  and  the  larger  the 
number  of  millions  piled  up  in  endowment,  the  more 
difficult  it  becomes  for  human  prevision  from  one 
generation  to  another  not  only  to  maintain  an  imvary- 
ing  aggregate  of  income,  but  also  to  prevent  actual 
shrinkage  and  loss  of  principal.  Will  the  bonds  and 
other  commercial  seciirities  locked  in  college  vaults  to- 
day have  their  present  face  value  fifty  years  from  now  ? 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  131 

If  not,  who  has  the  infallible  foresight  to  change  them 
at  the  right  moment  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  loss? 
The  wrecks  of  endowments  scattered  along  the  course 
of  our  educational  advance  afford  no  reassuring  answer. 
Let  us  consider  by  contrast  the  foundation  of  a  uni- 
versity supported  by  the  taxation  of  the  common- 
wealth. The  tax  is  laid  by  the  strong  arm  of  authority. 
The  collector  comes  not  merely  to  the  office  of  the  cap- 
italist or  to  the  store  of  the  merchant;  he  finds  his 
way  to  the  farm  and  the  forest ;  he  does  not  even  pass 
by  the  rude  cottage  of  the  widow  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
remote  village,  though  she  may  be  well-nigh  spent  in 
the  struggle  for  bread  for  her  young  family  and  there 
may  be  hovering  over  her  the  spectre  of  mortgage 
foreclosure.  To  all  alike  the  state  says  "Pay,  or 
I  will  vitiate  your  title  and  seize  your  property." 
Nothing  is  sure,  as  the  saying  goes,  but  death  and 
taxes. 

But,  men  say,  a  university  supported  by  taxation 
has  an  insecure  foundation  for  the  reason  that  the 
next  legislature  may  cut  from  under  it  its  means  of 
support.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  constitutional  and 
legal  safeguards  thrown  about  the  State  Universities; 
the  people  who  make  can  also  unmake  constitutions. 
Stronger  than  constitutions  and  more  fundamental 
than  laws  are  the  primary  motives  of  mankind.  The 
State  University  is  sure  of  its  support  because  the 
burden  of  it,  distributed  over  a  whole  commonwealth, 
rests  heavily  upon  no  class  and  upon  no  individual, 
therefore  no  one  can  show  cause  why  he  should  not 
contribute  his  penny;  but  in  the  second  place  it  ap- 
peals to  two  of  the  strongest  motives  that  actuate 
men,  first  self-interest,  since  it  offers  its  advantages  to 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  those  who  pay  taxes,  with- 
out distinction  of  class  or  condition ;  and  again,  it  ap- 
peals to  patriotism,  to  state  pride.     The  farmer  who 


132     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

at  the  grange  meeting  waxed  eloquent  against  the 
extravagance  of  higher  education  at  pubUc  expense, 
comes  to  the  State  University,  wanders  about  its  build- 
ings, and  understanding  little  of  education  but  awe- 
struck by  its  material  paraphernalia,  goes  back  home 
filled  with  joy  and  pride  to  think  that  he  is  part  owner 
in  something  so  great,  so  imposing. 

The  State  Universities  are  poor,  as  are  all  univer- 
sities of  rapid  growth  —  they  above  others  because 
their  numbers  have  increased  with  imprecedented 
rapidity.  In  1885  the  number  of  students  in  eight 
representative  universities,  California,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
Kansas,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  and  Wis- 
consin, was  approximately  4,200;  in  1895  it  was 
13,500;  in  1905,  23,000.  In  the  last  year  the  total 
enrollment  reported  in  the  same  institutions  was 
nearly  27,000.  It  is  difficult  for  any  educational  in- 
stitution to  expand  so  rapidly  as  to  keep  abreast  of 
the  needs  of  a  student  body  showing  a  five-fold  increase 
in  twenty  years. 

The  only  fair  way  to  estimate  the  financial  strength 
of  the  State  Universities  in  comparison  with  other 
institutions  is  to  capitalize  their  income  from  taxation 
and  place  this  beside  the  endowment  or  productive 
funds  of  the  institutions  of  private  support.  Let  us 
reckon  the  assured  and  regular  income  from  the  state 
as  if  it  were  foiu"  per  cent  interest  on  an  tmvarying 
capital;  when  we  take  into  account  the  fact  that  the 
State  University  is  at  no  expense  of  investment  and 
collection  and  has  no  losses  from  reinvestment  or 
shrinkage,  a  net  income  of  four  per  cent  affords  a  valid 
basis  of  comparison.  On  this  basis  the  assured  in- 
come, for  example,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
represents  a  capitalization,  or  endowment,  of  more 
than  $15,000,000,  a  sum  more  than  eight  times  as  great 
as  the  sum  total  of  the  productive  funds  of  all  the 


STATE    UNIVERSITIES  133 

colleges  and  universities  of  private  endowment  in  the 
same  state.  The  ratios  vary  in  different  states;  but 
it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  fvirther  the  permanency 
of  the  State  University  as  an  educational  type  in  so 
far,  at  least,  as  concerns  its  means  of  support. 

From  the  administrative  point  of  view,  moreover, 
the  State  University  represents  the  most  economical 
and  efficient  agency  of  higher  education  yet  devised 
among  us;  for  normally  (there  are  a  few  exceptions) 
it  masses  upon  a  single  campus  all  the  facilities  of 
advanced  secular  learning  under  a  single  administra- 
tive head.  Its  facilities  are  so  concentrated  that  easily 
and  promptly  by  differentiation  it  takes  on  additional 
functions  or  shifts  emphasis,  according  to  the  mani- 
festation of  the  social  need,  without  the  delay  and 
increased  cost  of  organizing  and  developing  new  in- 
stitutions with  a  separate  administration. 

Some  years  ago  President  Pritchett  adverted  to 
the  lack  of  judgment  shown  as  a  rule  in  the  location 
of  the  State  Universities  in  small  towns  rather  than 
at  centres  of  population.  But  the  foimders  builded 
better  than  they  knew;  for  as  the  states  have  grown 
the  State  University  has  under  such  conditions  been 
enabled  to  develop  a  homogeneous  and  sympathetic 
environment,  unhampered  and  undisturbed  by  the 
strain  of  life  and  the  distractions  of  a  great  city;  and 
meanwhile  the  funds  of  the  State  Universities  are  made 
to  yield  much  larger  results  for  instruction  and  investi- 
gation on  account  of  their  location  away  from  commer- 
cial centres  with  increased  cost  of  living.  What  are 
now  small  towns  will  in  many  cases  become  like  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  when  our  commonwealths  shall  have 
populations  ranging  from  5,000,000  to  15,000,000 
each,  and  when  there  shall  have  been  a  corresponding 
elevation  of  taste  and  culture. 

Is  there  any  doubt  that  the  State  University  is  here 


134     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

to  stay?  Those  religious  leaders  who  have  essayed 
to  solve  the  varied  religious  problems  of  the  country 
and  have  persistently  ignored  the  problem  of  the 
State  University  on  the  supposition  that  this  is  some- 
thing ephemeral  and  unimportant,  who  have  in  effect 
said  to  us  "You  cry  'Wolf  'Wolf  when  there  is  no 
wolf,"  are  masking  themselves  behind  a  pale  of  straw. 
I  say  without  exaggeration,  and  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction by  anyone  conversant  with  the  facts,  that 
the  State  Universities  are  already  far  the  most  impor- 
tant factor  in  American  higher  education;  and  they 
are  only  fairly  started  on  their  career  of  development. 

In  advance  sheets  lately  issued  by  the  office  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Education,  there  is  a  tabiilation  of 
the  attendance,  last  year,  in  State  Universities  and 
other  institutions  of  higher  education  partially  sup- 
ported by  the  state.  Excluding  from  the  list  the  iso- 
lated agricultural  colleges,  and  summing  up  the  attend- 
ance at  the  institutions  of  university  rank,*  we  have  a 
total  of  more  than  53,000  students.  We  are  not  con- 
cerned here  with  the  relative  percentages  of  those  en- 
rolled in  the  departments  of  liberal  arts  and  in  pro- 
fessional departments;  since  in  many  cases  the  same 
preparation  admits  to  both,  the  students  are  of  much 
the  same  degree  of  maturity,  and  they  are  subject  to 
the  same  influences,  exposed  to  the  same  temptations. 

Fifty-three  thousand  students  in  state  institutions 
of  higher  education!  But  do  not  think  of  them  as  a 
mass.  I  have  heard  President  Angell  say,  that  when 
our  students  are  crowded  into  University  Hall  —  it 
will  now  hold  hardly  more  than  half  of  them  —  when 
they  are  crowded  in  and  he  looks  into  their  faces  rising 
tier  on  tier,  he  can  think  of  nothing  but  so  many 
thousand  locomotives,  with  steam  up,  ready  to  start. 

*  The  Commissioner's  list  includes  Cornell  University,  and  this  is 
included  in  our  total. 


STATE    UNIVERSITIES  135 

Let  us  carry  out  the  figure.  Fifty-three  thousand 
locomotives,  with  steam  up,  ready  to  start  —  but  upon 
what  track,  and  with  what  hand  upon  the  throttlef 

Since  the  State  University  is  a  part  of  the  public- 
school  system  the  problem  of  providing  religious  in- 
struction for  its  students  is  only  a  phase  of  the  larger 
problem  of  the  adjustment  of  religious  to  secular  edu- 
cation. This  phase,  however,  is  differentiated  from 
other  phases  of  the  general  problem  by  three  partic- 
ulars. The  students  of  the  State  University  are  more 
mature  than  those  in  the  lower  public  schools;  again, 
being  away  from  home,  they  are  no  longer  directly 
restrained  by  the  influences  of  early  environment ;  and 
lastly  the  State  University  from  its  position  of  admin- 
istrative independence  has  large  freedom  in  determin- 
ing what  shall  and  what  shall  not  be  taught.  Since 
then  these  institutions,  viewed  in  relation  to  the  rest 
of  the  public- school  system,  form  a  class  by  themselves, 
the  solution  of  the  religious  problem  for  them  can  be 
reached  only  through  an  understanding  of  the  char- 
acter and  special  needs  of  the  student  body. 

In  the  first  place,  the  great  majority  of  the  students 
in  the  State  Universities  come  from  a  public  high 
school;  we  may  therefore  assume  that  their  prepara- 
tion for  their  work  is,  on  the  whole,  better  than  it  would 
have  been  had  they  been  trained  in  academies  and 
private  schools.  I  am  aware  of  no  facts  that  would 
exclude  from  application  here  the  conclusions  stated 
by  President  Eliot  in  his  "Annual  Report"  of  Har- 
vard College  for  1902-03.  He  says:  "Three  sorts  of 
schools  send  pupils  to  Harvard  College  —  public 
schools,  academies  and  other  endowed  schools,  and 
private  schools;  and,  as  a  rule,  two  hundred  or  more 
schools  contribute  the  six  htmdred  or  more  persons 
who  enter  the  various  college  classes  in  any  one  year. 
About  30  per  cent  of  these  six  hundred  or  more  persons 


136     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

come  from  public  schools ;  and  these  30  per  cent  can 
readily  be  compared,  in  respect  to  their  success  at  the 
admission  examinations,  with  those  who  enter  from 
the  other  two  sorts  of  schools."  He  then  gives  sta- 
tistics showing  that  ' '  the  candidates  who  came  from 
public  high  schools  were  decidedly  most  successful  at 
the  admission  examination;"  and  other  statistics  are 
cited  to  prove  that  a  like  advantage  remains  with  the 
boys  from  the  public  schools  to  the  end  of  the  college 
course — at  graduation  "the  honors  belong  to  the  public 
schools."  These  facts,  he  concludes,  "so  far  as  they 
go,  tend  to  prove  that  the  product  of  the  public  school 
has  more  character  and  power  of  work  than  the  product 
of  the  other  schools.  It  is  probably  true  that  the 
public-school  boy  has  stronger  inducements  to  exert 
himself  than  the  other  boys  have;  but  that  is  one  of 
his  advantages,  which  is  likely  to  serve  him  well  till 
maturity  and  beyond," 

In  the  second  place,  the  students  in  the  State  Uni- 
versities are  as  a  class  precisely  the  most  energetic, 
earnest  and  virile  of  those  graduated  from  the  high 
schools.  Only  the  more  vigorous  graduates  from  the 
high  schools  go  to  college.  Reports  are  still  circulated 
to  the  effect  that  state  institutions  are  "Godless"  and 
dangerous  to  morals  and  belief;  and  efforts  are  fre- 
quently put  forth  on  this  and  other  grounds  to  turn 
students  aside  to  institutions  the  equipment  of  which 
is  obviously  inferior.  The  religious  census  has  shown 
that  from  70  to  90  per  cent  of  the  students  in  State 
Universities  may  fairly  be  reckoned,  when  the}'-  enter, 
as  church  members  or  adherents;*  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  and  I  believe  that  the  supposition  will  be  borne 

*  The  statistics  are  in  part  given  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  vol. 
80  (1897),  pp.  826-832;  more  fully  in  a  pamphlet  published  at  Ann 
Arbor,  Michigan,  in  1897,  with  the  title  " The  ReHgious  Census  of 
the  State  Universities  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Colleges  in  the  colle- 
giate year  1896-97." 


gTATE   UNIVERSITIES  137 

out  by  the  fact,  that  at  the  present  time  in  a  number  of 
states  where  the  State  University  has  become  the  dom- 
inant institution  of  higher  education,  the  majority  of 
the  best  equipped  students,  of  those  with  most  matur- 
ity and  independence  of  judgment,  of  the  students 
who  have  the  greatest  promise  of  leadership  and  use- 
fulness, take  their  collegiate  as  well  as  their  professional 
course  in  the  university.  We  may  safely  assert  that 
the  student  body  of  the  other  colleges  is  at  least  not 
superior  to  the  student  body  of  the  State  University 
in  either  mental  or  moral  qualities. 

It  seems  unnecessary,  in  this  presence  and  at  this 
time,  to  make  further  allusion  to  the  alleged  *  *  Godless- 
ness"  of  the  State  Universities,  Upon  the  cover,  and 
also  upon  the  title  page,  of  the  catalogue  of  the  Univers- 
ity of  Kansas  is  the  print  of  the  university  seal,  on 
which  is  shown  the  picture  of  Moses  before  the  burning 
bush  with  the  words  from  the  Vulgate :  Videbo  visionem 
hanc  magnam  quare  non  comburatur  rubus,  "1  will  see 
this  great  sight  why  the  bush  is  not  burnt."  Even  so 
in  the  other  State  Universities,  the  spirit  of  investiga- 
tion, the  search  after  truth,  is  generally  associated 
with  humility  and  the  fear  of  the  Lord  which  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom.  Both  students  and  professors 
in  the  State  Universities  come  from  the  same  constit- 
uency as  that  which  supplies  the  students  and  pro- 
fessors of  colleges  and  universities  of  private  support. 
In  a  notable  symposium  on  "Our  Public  Schools" 
published  in  the  Outlook  in  1903,  (Vol.  75,  pp.  635- 
642),  a  number  of  college  presidents  expressed  them- 
selves as  in  agreement  that  in  respect  to  moral  charac- 
ter they  had  never  noticed  any  difference  between  the 
students  coming  from  the  public  schools  and  "those 
from  denominational,  church  or  other  private  schools." 
In  what  respect  then  is  the  student  life  of  the  State 
Universities,  from  the  religious  point  of  view,  en- 
dangered ? 


138    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

A  candid  utilizing,  for  many  years,  of  all  available 
sources  of  information  in  regard  to  the  wrecking  of 
student  careers  in  the  different  classes  of  colleges  and 
universities  has  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  in  this 
respect  there  is  no  appreciable  difference ;  colleges  and 
universities  of  approximately  the  same  size  and  of  sim- 
ilar environment,  whether  public  or  private,  will  every 
year  lose  by  elimination  about  the  same  percentage  of 
students  morally  unfit,  the  bad  habits  in  almost  all 
cases  being  formed  before  admission  to  the  higher  in- 
stitution. The  percentage  of  such  cases  is,  however, 
so  trifling  that  it  may  be  left  out  of  account  in  a  broad 
survey  of  religious  conditions.  The  State  Universities 
are  not,  and  never  have  been  "hot-beds  of  vice  and 
immorality." 

The  real  danger  to  religion  in  the  State  Universities, 
as  in  all  universities  where  there  is  an  intense  intellect- 
ual life,  lies  in  a  tendency  to  atrophy  of  the  spiritual 
nature.  Minds  become  so  absorbed  in  the  details  of  a 
particular  field  of  knowledge,  or  of  other  interests  of 
college  life,  that  the  things  of  the  spirit  are  lost  sight 
of.  In  their  devotion  to  lines  of  study  that  do  not 
bring  them  into  contact  with  vital  religion,  even 
students  of  religious  habits  of  thought  tend  to  lose 
their  perspective,  and  drift  into  indifference ;  and  often 
in  the  expansion  of  their  mental  horizon  they  find  it 
impossible  to  reconcile  new  and  old  points  of  view,  and 
finally  assume  an  attitude  hopelessly  negative  towards 
religious  matters.  Further,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  the  tendency  of  public  education  generally,  unless 
corrected  by  direct  and  vigorous  teaching,  is  to  make 
men  selfish  and  self -centered.  In  institutions  of  pri- 
vate support  the  names  of  benefactors  and  donors,  and 
the  needs  of  the  work,  are  ever  before  the  student,  who 
is  thus  reminded  of  the  source  of  the  advantages  which 
he  enjoys,  and  led  to  appreciate  their  value ;  how  often 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  139 

is  there  thus  aroused  a  noble  aspiration !  In  the  public 
high  schools  educational  advantages  are  furnished  so 
lavishly,  without  cost,  that  they  are  utilized  as  a  matter 
of  course;  the  source  being  impersonal,  the  student 
comes  to  look  upon  them  as  he  looks  upon  air  and  water, 
regarding  the  enjoyment  of  them  as  a  right,  not  as  a 
privilege.  Too  frequently  is  the  thought  of  the  student 
with  reference  to  the  State  University  not  ' '  Freely  do 
I  receive,  freely  must  I  give  back  in  return"  but  rather, 
to  use  a  terse  phrase  of  the  street,  ' '  What  is  there  in  it 
for  me?" 

The  proper  function  of  the  State  University  is  to 
develop  leaders.  It  has  no  other  reason  of  being. 
The  higher  training  of  the  individual  at  public  expense 
is  justified  only  by  the  expectation  that  society  will 
reap  the  benefit  of  his  special  skill  and  attainments  in 
the  solution  of  its  difficulties  and  the  betterment  of 
life.  But  if  not  merely  the  moral  but  the  religious 
element  is  indispensable  to  all  sound  education,  of 
what  paramount  importance  does  it  become  in  the 
case  of  these  who  by  force  of  their  superior  attain- 
ments will  yield  large  influence !  So  far  as  the  demands 
of  society  are  concerned,  it  is  just  as  important  that 
the  doctor,  the  lawyer,  the  engineer,  the  dentist,  the 
pharmacist,  the  banker,  and  the  promoter  have  high 
ideals  of  life  and  service,  and  work  the  works  of  right- 
eousness, as  it  is  that  the  minister  should;  and  the 
severely  intellectual  training  of  that  university  which 
either  from  the  sheer  force  of  numbers  or  from  other 
conditions,  finds  it  impossible  to  keep  moral  and 
religious  ideals  explicitly  and  distinctly  before  the 
minds  of  its  students,  so  far  fails  in  its  function  to  give 
men  the  best  preparation  to  render  to  society  its  just 
due ;  failing  to  develop  men  on  the  moral  and  spiritual 
while  it  is  developing  them  on  the  intellectual  side,  it 
leaves  them,  unless  other  influences  intervene,  not  only 


I40     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

with  a  one-sided  conception  of  man's  relation  to  society 
but  without  the  development  of  that  steadying  power 
which  has  its  source  in  the  religious  consciousness  and 
makes  life  at  the  same  time  more  useful  and  supremely 
worth  living. 

To  every  trained  man  as  to  others  there  comes,  in 
the  athletic  phrase,  a  "try  out."  Every  man  sooner 
or  later  undergoes  his  supreme  test,  his  trial  as  by 
fire.  It  may  come  to  him  almost  at  the  outset  of  a 
medical  practice,  or  in  time  of  epidemic ;  in  the  nar- 
row walls  of  a  law  office,  or  in  laying  the  foundations 
for  a  sky  scraper ;  in  the  classroom,  in  the  store,  in  the 
counting  house.  It  may  come  to  him  lying  under  the 
stars  in  a  mountain  camp,  when  the  burden  or  the 
temptation  seems  greater  than  flesh  can  bear;  it  may 
come  to  him  on  a  cot  in  the  hospital,  when  the  physi- 
cians move  about  with  hushed  voices,  and  the  nurses 
pursue  their  ministrations  silently.  Shall  he  live,  or 
shall  he  have  done  with  life,  as  have  so  many  in  the 
recent  panic  ?  Shall  he  rise  from  his  pain,  failures  and 
bitterness  to  face  the  world  with  courage  and  become 
a  man  of  strength,  ready  to  do  his  day's  work  unflinch- 
ingly, or  shall  he  sink  back  into  the  crowd,  weak  and 
discouraged,  soured  by  what  life  has  brought  him? 
Imagine  the  fullest  mental  and  technical  training  of 
which  the  mind  is  capable;  add  thereto  careful  train- 
ing in  the  theory  of  morals ;  will  that  alone  carry  him  ? 
Sometimes  men  are  sustained,  it  is  true,  by  a  kind  of 
brute  force  like  the  phlegm  of  the  ' '  rough  rider' '  whom 
I  met  in  Washington  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Pres- 
ident, who  told  me  that  even  when  a  target  for  whist- 
ling bullets  he  had  never  known  the  sense  of  fear ;  but 
most  men  will  emerge  unscathed  from  their  season  of 
trial  only  when  vitally  linked  in  spirit  with  the  spirit 
of  the  unseen  God.  Such  shall  be  guarded  by  invisible 
hosts,  shall  be  carried  by  invisible  hands;  they  shall 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  141 

run  and  not  faint.  No  matter  what  degree  of  intellect- 
ual power  or  merely  moral  training  a  man  may  have 
acquired,  he  is  trustworthy  as  a  leader,  for  weather 
fair  and  foul,  only  when  he  can  at  all  times  say  with 
the  Hebrew  Samuel :  ' '  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped 
us;"  or  with  the  poet: 

' '  Yet  in  the  maddening  maze  of  things. 
And  tossed  by  storm  and  flood, 
To  one  fixed  trust  my  spirit  clings  — 
I  know  that  God  is  good." 

It  is  idle  to  plead,  in  favor  of  the  exclusion  of  the 
religious  element  from  university  education,  either 
that  the  characters,  the  moral  and  religious  ideals  of 
students  are  shaped  before  they  come  to  the  university, 
or  that  the  maintenance  of  "academic  freedom"  is  in- 
consistent with  any  form  of  religious  instruction. 
Students  in  the  university  period  are  less  easily  moved 
than  in  earlier  years,  yet  they  are  plastic  and  responsive 
to  influences  in  a  degree  hardly  appreciated  by  those 
who  discuss  these  matters  without  actual  experience, 
on  a  priori  grounds;  but  in  this  very  period  the  char- 
acter tends  to  become  fixed,  so  that  a  fundamental 
change  of  purpose  or  ambitions  after  a  student  leaves 
the  tmiversity  is  rare.  And  it  is  obviously  more  con- 
sistent with  ' '  academic  freedom' '  to  allow  religious 
truth  a  fair  chance  to  assert  and  maintain  itself  in  the 
university  environment  than  to  try  to  keep  it  outside 
the  pale.  Yet  for  reasons  which  have  often  enough 
been  analyzed,  the  State  University  cannot  undertake 
to  give  formal  instruction  in  religion.  It  may  offer 
courses  in  Hebrew  and  Hellenistic  Greek,  in  the  history 
of  religion  and  cognate  subjects,  with  the  special  pur- 
pose of  enabling  students  to  interpret  the  Bible  from 
the  original  tongues  and  familiarize  themselves  with 
or  investigate  the  phenomena  of  religious  experience; 


142     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

but  it  can  inculcate  no  type  of  belief.  It  can  do  little 
more  than  open  its  buildings  to  accredited  religious 
teachers  representing  various  points  of  view,  and  in 
public  exercises,  at  which  students  may  be  required  to 
be  present  unless  excused  for  conscience'  sake,  set  the 
example  of  prayer  and  the  use  of  the  Bible  as  the  Book. 
And  in  the  very  necessity  of  avoiding  formal  religious 
teaching  at  public  expense  lies  the  glorious  possibility 
of  the  realization,  in  our  country,  of  an  adjustment 
between  advanced  religious  and  advanced  secular  edu- 
cation possessing  advantages  over  any  that  has  pre- 
viously been  attempted. 

Up  to  the  present  time  attempts  to  remedy  the  lack 
of  religious  instruction  in  State  Universities  have  come 
from  four  sources :  from  the  members  of  the  university 
staff  of  instruction,  who  by  efforts  outside  the  univer- 
sity have  sought  to  direct  their  students  to  spiritual 
things ;  from  the  students,  chiefly  through  the  mainte- 
nance of  Christian  associations  (supported  in  part  by  the 
general  associations),  and  through  clubs  for  Bible  study 
and  mutual  help ;  from  the  local  churches,  through  the 
activities  of  pastors  and  helpers ;  and  finally  from  the 
religious  denominations,  in  part  through  the  appoint- 
ment of  student  pastors  or  other  representatives  to 
reinforce  the  efforts  of  local  churches,  and  in  part 
through  the  establishment  of  extra-mural  foundations 
for  religious  instruction. 

These  four  agencies  have  all  contributed  unselfishly 
and  effectively ;  that  the  problem,  at  least  for  the  larger 
State  Universities,  is  yet  tmsolved,  is  due  to  no  lack  of 
zeal  on  the  part  of  many,  but  to  the  magnitude  and 
complexity  of  the  interests  involved.  No  matter  how 
earnest  and  faithful  the  members  of  the  staff  of  instruc- 
tion may  be,  the  demands  of  university  teaching  and 
research  are  in  these  days  of  specialization  so  exacting 
that  instructors  have  scant  time  and  strength  left  for 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  143 

religious  work  of  a  systematic  kind — they  cannot 
labor  seven  days  in  the  week;  and  besides,  to  grapple 
successftdly  with  the  religious  difficulties  of  students 
in  this  period  of  shifting  emphasis,  a  special  training  is 
required  which  few  scholars  in  other  fields  possess. 

The  work  of  the  Christian  associations  has  been 
incalculably  helpful.  It  is  an  active  force  for  good,  to 
keep  students  from  the  neglect  of  the  religious  habits 
of  earlier  life  and  to  inspire  them  to  offer  themselves 
for  religious  service.  While  there  are  great  masses 
of  students  that  the  Christian  associations  never  direct- 
ly reach,  these  bring  to  the  universities  as  lecturers 
forceftd  expositors  of  religious  truth,  and  their  work 
is  a  leaven  in  student  life.  According  to  a  recent 
statement  the  Students'  Christian  Association  of  the 
University  of  Michigan,  organized  in  January,  1858, 
"was  the  first  institution  of  its  kind  in  any  institution 
of  learning  in  this  country. ' '  Its  list  of  presidents,  pub- 
lished in  connection  with  the  recent  celebration  of  its 
semi-centennial,  reads  like  a  roll  of  honor.  Who  can 
estimate  the  good  that  it  has  done?  Yet,  with  full 
recognition  of  its  usefulness,  we  must  admit  that  in  the 
last  twenty  years  the  Students'  Christian  Association 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  whether  working  alone 
or  with  the  potent  and  wise  assistance  of  the  general 
organization,  has  hardly  more  than  touched  the  fringe 
of  the  situation.  The  Christian  associations  have  not 
been  able  adequately  to  cope  with  the  religious  situ- 
ation in  the  larger  State  Universities  for  two  reasons : 
first,  because  of  an  imperfect  adjustment  of  their  work 
with  the  work  of  the  religious  denominations,  and 
secondly,  for  the  reason  that,  while  they  have  stationed 
in  the  State  Universities  as  their  representatives  a  type 
of  men  that  are  high  minded,  efficient  in  organization, 
conscientious  and  alert,  they  have  not  attempted  to 
place  there  men  with  either  the  special  qualifications 


144     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

or  the  vigor  of  personality  required  to  make  them 
effective  in  a  large  way  as  spiritual  leaders.  The  work 
of  students  for  students  should  be  upheld  and  encour- 
aged in  every  possible  way,  and  in  all  departments  of 
activity.  Universities,  for  instance,  have  always  been 
ready  to  assist  the  associations  of  graduate  students 
and  listen  to  their  findings  in  educational  matters. 
But  when  the  time  comes  to  take  up  large  issues  and 
probe  them  to  their  ultimate  facts  and  conditions,  and 
constructively  to  work  out  policies  of  far-reaching 
import,  help  and  suggestions  must  indeed  be  sought 
from  every  source,  but  can  the  adjustment  of  such 
matters  safely  be  left  to  the  judgment  and  efforts  of 
amateurs  ? 

Again,  the  local  churches  with  the  strongest  denomi- 
national representation  in  state-university  towns  find 
themselves  wholly  unable  to  solve  the  problem  of 
religious  instruction  for  their  student  constituency. 
They  exist  and  are  primarily  administered  for  their 
own  congregations.  They  are  not  equipped  to  care 
for  the  student  body  in  addition.  I  have  never  known 
more  devoted  and  self-sacrificing  labors  than  those  of 
ministers  in  university  towns  who  have  carried  the 
burden  of  their  student  constituency  upon  their  hearts . 
But  how  can  a  pastor  of  a  church  of  two  hundred  or 
four  hundred  members  be  expected  to  minister  to  a 
student  constituency  of  three  to  eight  hundred  in 
addition  ?  And  there  are  further  reasons.  The  aver- 
age minister  is  not  fitted  to  deal  successfully  with  the 
religious  difficulties  of  the  average  university  student. 
The  ordinary  sermon  addressed  to  an  average  congre- 
gation will  not  strike  the  intellectual  level  of  the  teach- 
ing to  which  the  university  students  are  accustomed 
six  days  in  a  week;  and  it  were  idle  to  expect  from 
working  ministers  the  ability  and  the  opportunity  to 
prepare,  in  addition  to  their  sermons,  special  religious 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  145 

instruction  which  shotild  compel  the  student's  atten- 
tion. 

Under  the  conditions  prevailing  in  this  country, 
religiously  society  has  organized  itself  along  denomi- 
national lines.  It  is  not  necessary  to  raise  the  question 
how  far  denominational  differences  are  traditional  and 
historical,  how  far  they  are  temperamental ;  we  need 
only  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  though  there  has  lately 
manifested  itself  a  tendency  toward  a  synthesis  of 
religious  bodies  allied  by  doctrine  and  form  of  gov- 
ernment, the  religious  denomination  remains  the 
normal  administrative  tinit  through  which,  in  the  place 
of  an  alliance  with  governmental  administration, 
the  religious  element  of  our  aggregate  life  finds  cor- 
porate and  institutional  expression.  If,  then,  on 
accotmt  of  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  the 
amount  of  religious  instruction  that  may  be  given  by 
a  State  University  is  so  limited  as  to  leave  advanced 
education  inadequate  upon  that  side,  do  we  not  see 
that  there  is  no  hope  of  an  arrangement  permanently 
and  adequately  to  supply  the  deficiency  except  through 
the  denominations  as  units  of  administration  ? 

The  educational  function  of  the  religious  denomina- 
tion is  two-fold :  to  instruct  all  its  youth  in  the  principles 
of  morals  and  religion,  with  the  hope  that,  whatever  they 
may  do,  they  will  live  lives  consistent  with  its  stand- 
ards; and  in  the  second  place  to  develop  by  special 
training  those  who  will  become  its  spiritual  leaders. 
In  the  case  of  the  former,  the  religious  training  must 
be  carried  along  with  the  secular ;  for  the  latter,  follow- 
ing the  collegiate  or  other  preliminary  course,  there 
must  be  a  course  in  theology.  For  the  former,  in 
addition  to  the  Simday  schools  connected  with  indi- 
vidual churches,  several  denominations  have  elaborate 
systems  of  young  people's  societies  and  appropriate 
publications ;  and  that  religious  and  secular  instruction 


146     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

may  not  be  separated,  some  have  a  more  or  less  Mly 
developed  school  system  from  the  primary  grade  up  to 
the  college  or  university.  With  such  systems  our 
present  inquiry  is  not  concerned.  The  question  before 
us  is,  along  what  lines  is  contact  possible  between  the 
denomination  as  a  religious  unit  and  the  State  Univer- 
sity as  the  highest  tmit  of  secular  education  ? 

I  have  elsewhere  tried  to  show  how  grave  have  been 
the  consequences,  in  this  country,  of  the  severance  of 
the  study  of  theology,*  which  is  for  the  most  part  pur- 
sued in  isolated  schools,  from  the  sisterhood  of  advanced 
studies.  In  that  tmnatural  separation  lies  the  chief 
cause  of  the  lack  of  adaptation  of  theological  training 
to  the  conditions  of  American  life,  which  is  so  frequently 
a  subject  of  discussion.  Why  heap  unmeasured  criti- 
cism upon  the  theological  seminary  ?  It  is  in  part,  at 
least,  the  victim  of  conditions.  Formerly  law  and 
medical  schools  also  were  in  isolation ;  but  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools  of  law  and  medicine  in  connec- 
tion with  the  universities  made  possible  so  much 
greater  economy  of  administration  and  produced  so 
much  better  educational  results  that  the  isolated 
schools  are  imable  to  compete  with  them  and  are  being 
forced  out  of  existence.  The  study  of  theology  has 
equal  need  of  the  tonic  of  a  university  atmosphere, 
and  secular  learning  needs  the  stimulating  and  steady- 
ing effect  of  the  study  of  theology.  Let  the  religious 
denominations  plant  their  schools  of  theology  about  the 
State  Universities ;  then  shall  be  realized  an  ideal  con- 
dition, both  for  the  adjustment  of  their  teachings  to 
changing  conditions  of  thought  and  for  the  training 
of  their  students.  Under  such  conditions  theological 
teaching  could  never  become  purely  formal,  as  it  tends 
to  become  in  European  countries  in  which  the  theologi- 

*  University  of  Illinois  Bulletin,  vol.  3  (1906),  no.  8,  part  2  (pro- 
ceedings of  the  conference  on  Religious  Education),  pp.  39-45. 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  147 

cal  facility  receives  its  income  from  the  State;  for 
while  enjoying  the  advantage  of  close  contact  with 
secular  learning,  the  theological  school  wotild  continue 
to  derive  its  support  from  the  religious  denomination, 
to  which  it  would  be  directly  responsible.  It  would 
then  be  in  no  danger  of  getting  out  of  touch  either  with 
movements  of  thought  or,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
humanity's  daily  needs.  What  a  power  for  good  would 
be  the  continual  influence  of  such  contiguous  denomi- 
national schools  of  theology  upon  even  the  largest 
State  Universities,  as  their  faculties  and  students  should 
mingle  freely  with  faculties  and  students  of  all  depart- 
ments !  A  promising  beginning  has  been  made  in  the 
fotinding  of  schools  of  theology  about  the  University 
of  California. 

But  the  establishment  of  schools  of  theology  on  the 
confines  of  the  State  University  will  not  alone  solve  our 
problem.  Great  as  the  indirect  influence  might  be, 
the  specialized  instruction  of  a  theological  faculty 
would  not  reach  large  numbers  of  students.  Consider 
how  much  the  larger  denominations  have  at  stake  in 
this  matter.  Of  the  fifty -three  thousand  students  in 
State  Universities  last  year  we  may  suppose  that  seven 
to  eight  thousand  were  members  or  adherents  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  probably  one  to  two  thousand 
more  students  than  the  total  number  of  students  of  all 
denominations  enrolled  at  the  same  time  in  the  Presby- 
terian colleges.  The  number  of  Methodist  students, 
according  to  all  available  evidence,  is  greater;  the 
numbers  of  members  and  adherents  of  the  Episcopal, 
Baptist, Roman  Catholic,  and  Unitarian  denominations, 
are  smaller.  To  provide  for  the  religious  needs  of  each 
more  considerable  denominational  student  body  a 
special  foundation,  either  associated  with  a  theological 
faculty  or  entirely  independent,  is  required. 

This  foundation  should  provide  for  the  support  of 


148     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

two  persons.  There  should  be  a  student  pastor,  who 
should  devote  his  energies  to  pastoral  work  along  the 
lines  followed  by  the  student  pastors  already  in  service 
in  connection  with  several  State  Universities;  then, 
by  his  side  there  should  be  stationed  a  man  of  power 
as  a  religious  teacher.  The  chair  of  this  teacher,  extra- 
mural, might  be  that  of  Christian  evidences  or  of  the 
Bible.  It  would  make  little  difference  under  what 
title  he  should  approach  his  task,  but  in  his  command 
of  his  subject  and  his  power  to  impress  the  truth  upon 
others  he  should  be  the  peer  of  any  professor  upon  the 
campus.  To  such  men  students  will  always  find  time 
to  listen ;  to  a  group  of  such  men,  stationed  about  the 
larger  State  Universities  and  working  in  a  spirit  of 
friendly  cooperation,  we  may  confidently  entrust  the 
religious  instruction  and  inspiration  that  shall  supple- 
ment the  deficiencies  of  advanced  secular  education 
and  transform  its  spirit. 

The  University  of  Michigan  owes  its  existence  to  the 
splendid  dream  and  untiring  efforts  of  a  home  mission- 
ary into  whose  hands,  as  he  was  toiling  among  the 
scattered  hamlets  in  the  primeval  forest,  there  came  a 
copy  of  a  translation  of  Cousin's  little  book  on  the 
German  universities.  Upon  the  working  plan  incor- 
porated in  the  University  of  Michigan  the  majority 
of  the  other  State  Universities  have  been  founded. 
They  are  the  creation  of  God-fearing  men,  they  are 
supported  by  states  made  up,  for  the  most  part,  of 
God-fearing  citizens.  Students  are  resorting  to  them 
in  such  numbers  that  the  mind  is  staggered  when  it 
tries  to  compass  their  multitude,  or  to  grasp  their 
potentiality  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  cry  of  the  State 
Universities  to  the  churches  is :  Send  us  men !  First, 
men  to  look  after  their  own ;  but  then,  and  above  all, 
men  who  are  happily  balanced  in  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual power,  men  of  equipment  to  place  any  aspect  of 


STATE   UNIVERSITIES  149 

religious  or  theological  instruction  on  a  level  with  any 
aspect  of  secular  instruction  within  the  campus;  men 
too  large  for  creedal  bickerings  or  denominational  pet- 
tiness, who  will  interpret,  each  according  to  the  light 
that  is  in  him,  the  truths  of  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  and 
will  say  to  the  students  of  their  own  churches, 
without  exclusion  of  others  and  yet  without  suggestion 
of  proselyting,  "Come,  let  us  reason  together  on  spir- 
itual things." 

Does  this  plea  seem  new  or  strange?  It  is  almost 
ninety  years  since  substantially  the  same  request  was 
embodied  in  the  well-known  proposal  of  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson with  reference  to  the  University  of  Virginia.  It 
has  been  repeated  and  urged  again  and  again.  Why 
have  the  denominations  not  heeded  the  call  ?  Because, 
for  the  most  part,  they  have  been  short-sighted  and 
have  found  it  difficult  to  take  a  broad  and  unprejudiced 
view  of  the  situation ;  because  they  have  looked  upon 
the  State  University,  even  though  it  be  a  normal  devel- 
opment of  a  national  type,  as  an  intruder  upon  their 
educational  domain,  and  have  adopted  toward  it  an 
attitude  of  hostility.  It  is  time  to  brush  the  scales 
from  blinded  eyes  and  to  face  the  naked  truth.  The 
best  blood  and  brain  of  a  score  of  commonwealths,  the 
great  majority  of  those  students  whose  ability  and 
equipment  will  fit  them  to  do  the  largest  work,  are 
gathered  in  the  State  Universities.  In  their  hands  are 
the  destinies  of  the  next  generation.  Let  the  churches 
go  on  as  with  rare  exceptions  they  have  gone  in  the 
past,  let  them  continue  to  pass  by  on  the  other  side, 
giving  no  care  to  their  sons  and  daughters  in  these 
strategic  centres,  and  who  shall  suffer  loss  ?  Society  in 
general,  but  first  of  all  the  churches  themselves. 

Shall  the  churches  heed  the  call  of  the  State  Univer- 
sity? With  them  lies  the  answer,  upon  them  rests 
the  responsibility. 


ISO     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 


EDUCATION    FOR    CHRISTIAN     CITIZENSHIP 

JESSE  H.  HOLMES,  Ph.  D. 

PROFESSOR    SWARTHMORE    COLLEGE,    SWARTHMORE,    PA. 

Intending  to  present  a  discussion  of  materials  and 
processes  I  have  found  myself  concentrating  on  the 
effort  to  define  my  finished  product.  It  is  a  weak- 
ness not  alone  of  religious  education,  that  there  is 
no  clear  and  consistent  idea  of  the  constituent  ele- 
ments of  a  Christian  citizen;  and  teaching  vacillates 
among  endeavors  to  make  a  saint,  a  scholar,  and  an 
effective  man  of  business.  Let  me  then  first  ask  the 
question,  what  is  a  Christian  citizen?  and  answer  it 
in  Christian  terms,  that  he  is  one  who  knows  and 
loves  God  and  man. 

But  to  know  God  is  not  merely  to  know  about 
God.  We  do  not  know  our  friends  by  anatomical 
summaries  of  their  structure,  nor  by  biographical 
sketches  of  their  past.  And  the  Christian  citizen 
must  primarily  know  God  rather  as  he  knows  his 
friend  than  as  he  knows  history  or  science.  The  sense 
for  the  divine  presence  and  power  is  as  really  a  part  of 
our  equipment  as  the  sense  of  touch  or  taste  or  sight 
The  muscular  appreciation  of  gravitation  is  not  more 
actual  than  the  immediate  sense  of  a  pressure  in  the  hu- 
man spirit  toward  the  right  and  true.  The  currents  of 
magnetism  which,  unseen,  fill  the  room  with  their 
ceaseless  flow  are  not  more  real  than  the  currents  of 
divinity,  which  latter  as  tnily  tend  to  swing  the 
human  spirit  into  the  divine  order  as  the  former  tend 
to  swing  the  magnetic  needle  toward  the  pole.  It  is 
this  first-hand  knowledge  of  God,  which  is  most  vital 
and  most  easily  taught,  that  is  most  neglected.  Our 
children  are  entrusted  in  Sunday  schools  to  immature, 
ignorant,  and  untrained  men  and  women  who  teach 


EDUCATION   FOR   CHRISTIAN    CITIZENSHIP     151 

with  unquestioned  authority  not  only  the  most  intricate 
and  involved  history,  but  the  most  abstruse  theo- 
logical science  as  well.  I  know  of  a  child  of  six  who 
was  instructed  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Trinity.  It 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  she  told  her  mother  it 
"was  just  like  Cerberus."  I  fear  it  is  a  small  and 
decreasing  number  of  children  who  are  early  and  con- 
tinuously made  to  consciously  feel  the  presence  of 
God,  uncomplicated  by  facts  and  theories  far  beyond 
their  ken.  And  the  same  criticism  may  fairly  be 
made  of  the  instruction  of  older  children:  God  is 
presented  as  remote  in  time  and  space,  in  a  distant 
land  and  among  unfamiliar  people.  In  my  judgment 
no  child  is  ready  to  meet  the  divine  in  history  or  science 
who  has  not  met  the  divine  in  his  own  personal  con- 
sciousness; and  this  not  as  an  unusual  emotional 
experience  but  as  the  same  kind  of  every-day  matter 
as  the  meeting  of  a  father  or  mother. 

But  this  leads  us  at  once  to  prayer.  The  Christian 
citizen  must  have  learned  to  pray.  And  by  this  I 
do  not  mean  the  formal  prayer  repeated  by  rote. 
Even  in  babyhood  and  early  childhood  the  merely 
habitual  prayer  is  a  doubtful  expedient,  often  used 
by  timid  or  careless  parents  to  excuse  themselves  from 
their  more  vital  duty  of  introducing  their  children 
into  intimate  relations  with  their  divine  environment. 
By  various  processes,  prayer  has  been  made  to  seem 
to  many  mysterious,  unreal  or,  most  deadly  of  all, 
"unscientific."  Or  it  has  been  presented  as  a  formal 
affair  belonging  to  church  service,  to  bedtime,  or  to 
other  stated  times,  reduced  to  program.  Whereas, 
like  the  immediate  knowledge  of  God,  the  efficacy 
and  power  of  prayer  are  as  distinctly  empirical  facts  as 
the  laws  of  falling  bodies  or  of  the  luminiferous  ether. 
My  contention  is  that  this  is  not  a  matter  requiring  ra- 
tional proof,  but  is  the  starting  point ;  not  the  conclusion 


152     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

but  the  axiom ;  not  the  reasoned  product,  but  the  as- 
sumption on  which  rational  systems  must  be  based. 

I  have  dwelt  on  the  knowledge  of  God  as  the  first  ele- 
ment of  good  citizenship.  The  other  vital  element 
is  the  love  of  humanity.  But  love  is  a  word  which 
has  been  very  much  overworked  in  our  language. 
To  love  any  one  is  to  prefer  him  to  others,  to  select 
him  for  an  associate  to  the  exclusion  of  others.  But 
what  is  love  which  includes  all  and  prefers  none? 
What  is  love  with  no  choice,  and  no  selection?  The 
love  that  is  left  is  nothing  else  than  the  cordial  demand 
for  general  fair  play  —  for  universal  justice.  The 
duty  of  the  Christian  is  just  the  duty  of  the  true 
citizen  —  not  a  useless  and  luxurious  sentiment  of 
goodwill  to  man,  but  an  active  and  imperative  de- 
mand for  such  an  organizing  of  the  spirit  of  brother- 
hood as  shall  check  oppression  in  every  form.  Gen- 
uine democracy  is  organized  Christianity.  Training 
for  good  citizenship  means  training  for  the  application 
of  the  lessons  of  experience,  science  and  history  to 
make  "the  kingdom  come  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven" ; 
and  a  "kingdom  which  is  within  you"  is  of  necessity  a 
democracy.  There  are  certain  foundation  concepts 
which  the  Christian  ages  have  fully  verified  as  essential 
elements  of  relations  of  men  in  "the  kingdom."  Chief 
among  those  is  the  idea  of  equal  freedom  —  or  to 
divide  the  phrase,  of  freedom  and  equality.  More 
and  more,  men  must  be  freed  from  constraint  in  order 
to  become  freely  the  partners  of  God  in  making  a  good 
world  for  men.  The  citizen  of  the  kingdom  must  be 
self  governed  from  within  rather  than  from  without. 
The  heroes  of  this  ideal  stand  up  and  out  from  the 
centuries  and  milleniums  of  tyranny.  They  are 
martyred,  are  trodden  down;  their  followers  are  dis- 
persed and  slain  by  organized  despotism.  But  the 
next  generation  sees  again  a  bowed  and  broken  sufferer 


EDUCATION   FOR   CHRISTIAN   CITIZENSHIP     153 

looking  with  level  eyes  into  the  eyes  of  an  oppressor 
and  repeating  the  ancient  phrase,  "I  was  bom  to 
bear  witness  to  the  truth."  And  the  dull  tyrant  again 
and  again  makes  the  dull  answer,  "What  is  truth?" 
The  prophet  dies  and  by  a  divine  transmigration  his 
message  reappears. 

The  idea  of  equality  goes  inevitably  with  that  of 
freedom  —  the  equality  of  the  family,  of  the  church, 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  of  genuine  Chris- 
tianity. And  fundamental  in  this  concept  is  total 
condemnation  of  every  form  of  special  privilege,  of 
cornered  opportunity.  Surely  no  man  thinks  of  or 
desires  a  poor  superficial  equality  of  wealth,  of  intelli- 
gence, of  special  abilities  —  a  humanity  cast  in  a 
mould.  The  progress  of  mankind  seems  to  have  been 
built  up  on  the  action  and  reaction  of  differences. 
But  the  equality  of  fair  play,  the  equality  of  oppor- 
tunity, the  equality  attained  by  absence  of  handicaps ; 
without  these  there  can  be  no  democracy,  no  Christian 
brotherhood.  I  do  not  lose  my  human  relations  with 
the  man  who  can  outrun  me ;  but  if  he  puts  a  ball  and 
chain  on  me  or  gets  on  my  back  then  the  human 
relation  is  gone,  and  I  am  a  slave.  All  Christian 
citizenship  must  cry  out  against  the  relation  of  master 
and  slave  under  whatever  name,  and  must  learn  to 
recognize  that  relation  under  many  disguises.  It 
exists  wherever  and  whenever  a  man's  chance  to  make 
a  living,  and  a  home,  and  a  manhood  is  under  dictation. 
It  exists  wherever  men  are  driven  to  bread-lines  and 
workhouses  by  any  sudden  stress.  It  is  a  false  civili- 
zation which  measures  its  success  in  tons  of  steel  and 
yards  of  cotton.  A  Christian  civilization  can  only  be 
measured  in  terms  of  free  men  and  women.  America 
is  on  a  terribly  wrong  track  in  this  matter  and  the 
deepest  duty  of  religious  education  is  to  bring  her 
back  to  a  recognition  of  human  values.     But  religious 


154     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

institutions  and  largely  colleges  and  universities  as 
well,  give  themselves  to  palliative  charities,  temporary- 
reliefs,  lacking  either  the  intelligence  or  the  courage 
to  meet  the  situation  fairly  and  to  see  that  deep-seated 
changes  are  necessary  in  our  social  order:  an  order  in 
which  we  kill  children  to  pile  up  our  bargain  counters, 
stiint  and  maim  and  destroy  men  in  the  interests  of 
our  balance  of  trade,  and  buy  and  sell  girls  in  the  mar- 
ket to  gratify  the  lust  of  men.  Worst  of  all,  we  get 
used  to  these  things  and  take  them  as  a  matter  of 
course.  The  knowledge  of  them  does  not  make  it 
plain  to  us  that  in  our  present  industrialism  there  is 
a  cancer  which  is  not  to  be  poulticed  but  excised; 
that  saving  a  drunkard  now  and  then,  establishing 
hope  missions  for  fallen  women,  setting  up  soup 
kitchens  and  wood  yards  do  not  touch  the  problem. 

I  have  proposed  as  the  vital  elements  of  Christian 
citizenship,  the  love  of  God  and  of  man.  Religious 
education  —  and  in  my  judgment  that  is  all  education 
—  must  tend  to  develop  these  elements. 

The  primary  equipment  of  the  young  man  or 
woman  is  power  to  recognize  the  divine  element  in 
past  and  present;  in  the  world  without  and  the 
world  within.  The  generation  and  strengthening 
of  that  power  is  alike  an  essential  function  of  histor- 
ical and  scientific  studies.  That  history  is  truest  his- 
tory which  so  uses  the  events  of  the  past  as  to  bring  out 
the  essential  unity  of  the  time  stream,  and  the  direc- 
tion of  its  current.  It  is  because  they  never  miss  this 
presence  of  God  in  the  affairs  of  their  people  that  the 
Hebrew  prophetic  writers  maintain  a  permanent  place 
as  great  teachers  of  religion,  and  this  in  spite  of  care- 
lessness as  to  temporal  order,  mistakes  of  ignorance, 
and  the  superstition  natural  to  an  early  stage  of  human 
experience.  But  if  after  recognizing  this  presence  in 
their  history  we  fail  to  find  it  in  our  own,  or  fa^  to 


EDUCATION   FOR   CHRISTIAN   CITIZENSHIP      155 

teach  it  in  all  history,  the  mere  knowledge  that  they 
found  it  will  be  of  little  use  to  us  or  to  our  teaching. 
The  spirit  of  Bible  history  is  needed  in  all  history. 
It  is  better  than  that  of  Bancroft  or  Macaulay  only 
because  it  is  more  vitally  true;  and  that  vital  truth 
can  be  found  and  should  be  found  in  the  histories  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  of  England  and  the  United  States 
of  America.  So  also  with  the  New  Testament  Gospel, 
narrative  and  epistle  alike.  In  spite  of  mistakes, 
misunderstandings  and  carelessness,  in  spite  of  the 
buffetings  of  the  early  centuries  and  the  intrusion  of 
foreign  concepts  drawn  from  Greek  and  oriental;  it  is 
luminous  with  the  sense  of  the  divine  presence  and 
its  nearness  to  man.  There  is  a  kind  of  heart-wringing 
element  of  tragedy  in  the  story  of  the  centuries  in  which 
men  hated,  fought,  and  suffered  over  questions  of 
phrases  to  be  used  in  explaining  God,  his  relations  with 
Jesus  and  with  men,  and  over  the  details  of  the  birth, 
life  ana  death  of  the  Master.  As  mere  events  in  the 
past,  as  mere  matters  of  fact,  none  of  these  things 
have  any  value  for  teaching  or  for  any  other  purpose. 
To  be  effective  the  divine  in  the  first  century  must 
awaken  in  us  the  power  to  see  the  divine  in  the  20th 
century.  The  Godhood  in  the  life  of  Jesus  should 
enable  us  to  see  the  potential  Godhood  in  all  humanity. 
It  should  strengthen  our  sense  of  the  infinite  value  of 
every  individual.  In  practice,  too  large  a  proportion 
of  our  examples  of  courage,  manliness,  and  generosity 
are  taken  from  the  Bible  and  too  few  from  the  life 
about  us.  Not  even  Jesus  should  be  made  to  over- 
shadow and  conceal  the  Christ  spirit  in  the  common 
man.  Better  no  gospels  than  they  should  be  used  to 
make  us  feel  that  God  is  1900  years  of  time  and  half 
a  world  of  space  away  from  Washington,  D.  C,  in 
1908.  I  feel  sure  you  will  not  misunderstand  me  tc 
make  light  of  the  Bible  or  to  minimize  the  value  of  the 


is6     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

New  Testament.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  in  our  devotion 
to  the  letter,  we  have  frequently  wrecked  all  possible 
interest  in  the  prophets,  and  made  our  children  deadly- 
tired  of  Jesus,  while  at  the  same  time  we  have  failed 
utterly  to  give  them  any  clear  idea  of  either  the  life 
or  the  teaching  of  the  great  teacher.  It  is  not  true 
that  we  should  take  the  largest  doses  of  the  most 
precious  medicines. 

As  that  history  is  most  true  which  binds  recorded 
time  into  unity  with  the  bonds  of  the  divine,  so  that 
science  is  most  true  which  brings  the  chaos  of  matter 
and  motion  into  the  ordered  cosmos  of  divine  law. 
The  splendid  sweep  of  events  in  world-making,  the 
slow  but  unfailing  invasion  of  system  in  the  cosmic' 
fog  of  ancient  ages,  the  over-powering  magnitudes  and 
motions  of  stellar  spaces,  speak  to  us  of  God  the 
creator,  or  they  speak  us  false.  And  the  growth  from 
atom  to  molecule,  from  molecule  to  organism,  from 
organism  to  consciousness,  from  consciousness  to 
purpose,  and  from  purpose  to  love,  shows  throughout 
that  creation,  like  truth  and  honor  and  faith,  comes 
from  a  power  acting  within  not  without. 

The  Christian  citizen  must  know  and  love  God 
and  man.  History  and  science  alike  must  be  used 
to  awaken  and  develop  that  driving  power  in  his 
nature.  The  barriers  which  block  the  way  to  the 
king  for  whose  coming  we  pray,  are  not  rivers  or 
mountains,  seas  or  deserts.  If  they  were,  tomorrow 
would  hear  the  sound  of  drills  or  show  the  pilot  or  road- 
maker  at  his  task.  But  our  danger  like  our  hope  is 
within  us.  We  face  the  opportunity,  and  I  believe 
the  last  opportunity  of  the  many  which  have  been 
offered  to  our  western  Christianity.  The  Christian 
church  cast  aside  her  mission  in  the  fourth  century 
to  become  an  empire ;  she  cast  it  aside  in  the  sixteenth 
to  war  over  sects  and  creeds.     She  has  been  false  to 


TRAINING  OF  NEGRO   PHYSICIANS        157 

her  trust  a  hundred  times  because  of  pride,  or  hate 
or  the  desire  for  popularity  or  wealth,  or  from  mere 
inertia  and  carelessness.  But  surely  her  task  is  now 
plain  —  the  world  for  men  —  the  world  a  Father's 
house  —  the  kingdom  come  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven ; 
mankind  a  fraternity,  a  fellowship,  a  family.  These 
things  are  not,  but  they  are  to  be  —  if  not  by  us,  if  not 
in  the  name  of  our  Christianity,  then  by  better 
men  and  a  truer  Christianity.  May  our  people  and 
our  generation  have  the  courage  and  loyalty  and  truth 
to  accomplish  the  task. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  MINISTERS  AND    PHYSI- 
CIANS FOR  THE   NEGRO   RACE 

WILBUR  P.  THIRKIELD,  LL.  D. 

PRESIDENT    HOWARD   UNIVERSITY,    WASHINGTON,    D.  C. 

Any  adequate  treatment  of  the  relation  of  moral  and 
religious  education  to  the  life  of  the  nation,  will  not 
leave  out  the  Negro  race.  They  constitute  one-eighth 
of  the  population.  They  have  to  do  with  the  charac- 
ter and  history,  the  political  life  and  social  well-being  of 
the  nation. 

A  most  effective  and  permanent  force  available 
for  the  uplift  of  the  family  and  the  moralization  of  the 
social  life  of  the  Negro,  is  the  trained  physician.  The 
urgent  call  for  efficient  men  in  this  profession  is  em- 
phasized by  prevailing  physical  conditions  in  the 
Negro  race.  The  startling  fact  of  a  death-rate  twice 
as  great  as  that  among  whites;  a  death-rate  from  tu- 
berculosis three  times  as  great;  and  with  physical 
conditions  in  some  sections  worse  than  under  slavery, 
give  emphasis  to  the  call  for  the  trained  physician. 

Under  slavery  the  sick  Negro  was,  as  a  rule,  given 
prompt  medical  attention;  he  was  required  to  live  by 


158     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

rule ;  his  food  was  coarse  but  wholesome  and  nutritious ; 
he  was  kept  up  to  the  highest  degree  of  efficiency ;  his 
life  was  in  the  open ;  the  health,  vigor,  and  long  life  of  a 
slave  were  an  asset  which  was  safeguarded.  Unhealthy 
and  defective  persons  were  often  forbidden  marriage. 
As  a  consequence,  the  death-rate  in  certain  sections  of 
the  south  before  the  war  was  less  than  that  for  the 
whites.  In  Charleston,  S.  C,  from  1822  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  the  average  white  death-rate  was 
25.98  per  thousand;  for  the  black,  24.05  per  thousand. 
But  from  1865  to  1894  the  average  mortality  for  whites 
in  Charleston  was  26.77  P^^  thousand,  for  blacks,  43.29 
per  thousand.  The  outcome  shows  the  inevitable  cost 
of  freedom.  It  is  a  struggle  for  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  Through  ignorance,  improvidence,  and  hard 
conditions  the  majority  of  the  race,  perhaps,  is  poorly 
housed,  underfed,  and  inadequately  clothed.  Their 
power  of  resistance  to  the  ravages  of  disease  is  thus 
weakened.  Their  homes  in  cities  are  often  in  unsani- 
tary sections  —  in  alleys  or  low-lying  fiats.  So  also  in 
the  country;  where  impurities  drain  into  their  wells  and 
sources  of  water  supply.  There  is  slight  appreciation 
of  the  laws  of  health.  Typhoid  and  malarial  fevers 
hold  sway  among  them.  Contagious  diseases  and  epi- 
demics find  easy  victims.  Because  of  low  moral  stand- 
ards, lack  of  knowledge  and  loose  family  discipline,  ille- 
gitimacy is  common  among  the  lower  classes.  The 
effects  of  diseases,  not  to  be  named,  on  infant  mortal- 
ity is  marked. 

The  scourge  of  to-day  is  tuberculosis  —  that  "  ghast- 
ly tragedy  of  a  race."  On  high  authority  it  is  stated 
that  of  the  seventy-five  million  living  Americans,  at 
least  eight  millions  must  inevitably  die  from  this 
cause.  It  is  the  greatest  drain  on  the  nation's  re- 
sources. Among  the  slaves  consumption  was  so  rare 
that  physicians  even  declared  that  the  Negro  was  im- 


TRAINING  OF   NEGRO   PHYSICIANS        159 

rtiiine  from  its  deadly  power.  It  is  now  the  scourge  of 
this  race.  The  death-rate  among  the  Negroes  from 
tuberculosis  is  (at  the  present  time)  more  than  three 
times  that  of  the  whites  from  the  same  disease.  Siace 
the  one  prevailing  source  of  tuberculosis  is  through  in- 
fection, and  the  races,  in  the  South  especially,  are  so 
closely  bound  together,  the  menace  to  the  health  of  the 
nation  is  serious.  In  the  South  the  Negroes  are,  and 
wiU  continue  to  be,  helpers  in  the  homes.  They  cook 
the  food,  nurse  the  children,  care  for  the  sick,  and 
wash  the  clothes  mostly  in  their  own  unsanitary 
cabins.  It  is  evident  that  if  trained  physicians  are 
not  available  for  the  instruction  of  the  people  in  hy- 
giene and  sanitation,  and- for  the  arrest  of  this  infec- 
tious plague,  the  results  must  be  in  the  future  even 
more  alarming  than  to-day. 

In  some  cities  even  at  the  North,  the  Negroes  are 
dying  off  faster  than  they  reproduce  themselves.  Dr. 
Fumiss,  the  noted  colored  physician  of  Indianapolis, 
gives  statistics  showing  that  in  no  month  in  the  last 
ten  years  has  the  birth-rate  in  that  city  equalled  the 
death-rate.  When  the  proportion  should  be  one  to 
eight,  tuberculosis  is  the  cause  of  half  the  total  deaths 
of  Negroes  in  Indianapolis.  The  fact  that  consump- 
tion mortality  in  New  Orleans  is  three  and  one -third 
times  greater  for  colored  than  for  white,  and  in  St. 
Louis  and  Chicago  over  three  times  as  great,  should 
sound  the  alarm. 

In  view  of  these  conditions,  peculiar  significance  at- 
taches to  statistics  as  to  the  training  of  the  colored  phy- 
sicians. In  1907  the  total  number  of  medical  students 
in  the  United  States  was  24,276.  The  total  number  of 
graduates  was  4,980, — the  smallest  number  since  1890. 

There  are  seven  medical  schools  for  colored  people  — 
Howard  University  School  of  medicine  at  Washing- 
ton, Meharry  at  Nashville,  and  Leonard  at  Raleigh, 


i6o     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

being  most  prominent  and  fairly  well  equipped.  The 
total  number  of  professors  and  instructors  in  these 
schools  for  1907  was  143;  students  691;  graduates 
167.  On  the  basis  of  seventy  million  whites  and  ten 
million  blacks  in  the  United  States,  there  is  one  stu- 
dent in  medicine  to  every  three  thousand  whites,  and 
one  to  every  fourteen  thousand  blacks. 

The  strategic  importance  therefore  of  such  an  in- 
stitution as  the  School  of  Medicine  of  Howard  Uni- 
versity is  apparent.  It  was  opened  in  1867  and  has 
sent  forth  over  one  thousand  trained  physicians,  den- 
tists, and  pharmacists.  The  high  efficiency  and  stan- 
dard of  this  school  are  acknowledged  by  the  profes- 
sion. The  terms  of  service  for  nine  members  of  the 
senior  faculty  aggregate  264  years.  Their  work  has 
affected  the  physical  well-being  of  multitudes  in  the 
nation.  The  courses  of  study  and  methods  of  instruc- 
tion are  abreast  of  the  latest  scientific  standards. 

The  completion  of  the  Freedmen's  Hospital,  for 
which  the  University  has  ceded  to  the  government  a 
valuable  park  of  eleven  acres,  gives  clinical  facilities 
unsurpassed.  This  is  the  only  large  hospital  with 
modem  appliances  open  in  any  broad  way  to  the  col- 
ored physician  or  student. 

The  thorough  preparation  of  the  Negro  doctor  in- 
volves the  well-being  of  both  races.  The  solidarity  of 
the  races  in  America,  in  relations  and  interests,  is  fixed. 
For  weal  or  woe,  the  growing  millions  are  bound  to- 
gether. In  thousands  of  communities  epidemics  and 
disease  in  one  race  menace  all.  For  the  study  of  dis- 
eases peculiar  to  the  Negro ;  for  the  prevention  of  epi- 
demics that  involve  all ;  for  the  lessening  of  the  fright- 
ful mortality  of  a  race,  the  Negro  physician  must  be 
trained. 

The  Negro  is  a  fixture  in  our  democracy.  The  four 
millions  of  yesterday  will  be  the  twenty  millions  in  the 


TRAINING   OF  NEGRO   PHYSICIANS        i6i 

near  to-morrow.  The  startling  word  of  Kidd  in  his 
"Social  Evolution,"  is  significant,  that  "999  parts  out  of 
the  thousand  of  every  man's  produce  is  the  result  of  his 
social  inheritance  and  environment."  The  Negro  is  set 
for  the  rising  or  falling  of  American  civilization.  If 
we  do  not  lift  him  up  physically,  mentally,  morally,  he 
will  pull  down  our  civilization. 

Economic  efficiency  is  involved.  He  is  to  furnish 
the  strong  hands  that  must  largely  do  the  work  in  our 
semi-tropical  South,  with  imperial  resources  yet  un- 
developed. Leaving  out  the  question  of  humanity 
and  the  safe-guarding  of  national  health  —  economic 
efficiency  alone  calls  for  the  thorough  equipment  of 
physicians  for  the  Negro  race. 

In  the  country  as  a  whole,  there  is  one  doctor  to 
every  636  people,  taking  no  account  of  irregulars. 
Their  distribution  emphasizes  the  call  for  trained  Negro 
physicians  for  work  in  the  South.  While  in  the  states 
of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Ohio,  there  is  an 
average  of  one  physician  to  524  of  the  population,  in 
North  Carolina  there  is  but  one  to  13 19  people;  in 
South  Carolina  one  to  1346,  and  in  Virginia,  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  and  Florida  one  to  every  894. 

How  strongly  this  emphasizes  the  need  of  trained 
Negro  physicians  who  are  really  essential  to  a  high 
physical  status  in  the  life  of  the  nation!  It  is  also 
evident  that  the  physician  of  high  aims  and  Christian 
principles  may  do  much  towards  transforming  the 
home-life  and  morals  of  a  commimity  and  in  uplifting 
an  entire  people. 

But  the  largest  hope  for  the  moral  and  religious  life 
of  the  Negro  race  is  in  the  pulpit.  The  preacher  is  still 
the  center  of  power.  To  a  large  extent  the  social,  edu- 
cational, moral  and  political,  as  well  as  the  religious 
life  of  the  race  since  slavery,  has  centered  in  the  church. 
The  organization,  progress,  and  achievements  of  the 


1 62     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

church  among  American  Negroes  is  the  one  outstand- 
ing fact  in  their  history  since  emancipation.  Starting 
with  but  two  positive  inheritances  from  two  centuries 
of  slavery  —  the  English  language  and  the  Christian 
religion  —  the  ministry  of  the  South  among  the  colored 
people  has  reared  the  fabric  of  vigorous  and  aggressive 
church  organizations,  which  take  their  recognized  place 
beside  other  great  Christian  bodies  of  the  nation.  That 
this  is  an  achievement  without  parallel  must  be  granted, 
when  we  consider  it  as  the  work  of  a  people  whose  ex- 
ecutive talent  had  never  been  developed;  a  people 
who  never  were  trained  to  plan  work  or  to  establish, 
equip,  and  administer  institutions.  At  least  31,500 
church  buildings  stand  as  a  testimony  to  the  success 
and  permanency  of  this  work.  There  are  25,674  min- 
isters and  a  membership  in  the  various  denominations 
has  been  gathered  into  the  church,  aggregating,  accord- 
ing to  the  last  census,  by  Dr.  Carroll,  3,475,538,  not  in- 
cluding fully  300,000  colored  members  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches. 

The  importance  of  the  training  of  an  intelligent  and 
consecrated  ministry  for  the  race  is  emphasized  first, 
by  the  fact  that  this  people,  gathered  largely  into 
churches  of  their  own,  must  be  led  and  instructed  by  a 
native  ministry. 

The  neglect  of  the  training  of  an  efficient  native 
ministry  has  made  for  weakness  in  more  than  one 
mission  field.  In  the  Hawaiian  Islands  the  early  mis- 
sionaries won  sweeping  victories.  Later,  the  churches 
passed  inevitably  into  native  control.  The  neglect 
in  training  strong  native  religious  teachers  and  leaders 
was  then  evident,  as  the  churches  sank  into  weakness 
and  inefficiency. 

The  Moravians  in  their  mission  fields  are  now  rec- 
ognizing as  never  before  the  necessity  for  the  training 
of  a  native  ministry.     Because  of  this  neglect,  failure 


TRAINING   OF   NEGRO   MINISTERS         163 

and  weakness  have  followed  the  noble  victories  of 
earlier  years.  The  China  Inland  Mission  has  learned 
the  same  lesson.  With  remarkable  conversions  and 
rapid  progress  under  early  missionaries,  the  work  has 
been  confined  to  narrow  limits  for  lack  of  forceful  na- 
tive leaders. 

The  need  of  a  trained  Negro  ministry  for  permanent 
religious  efficiency  is  emphasized  in  the  following 
strong  word  from  a  Southern  man:  "We  need  for  the 
continued  and  successful  instruction  of  the  Negroes,  as 
well-educated  and  as  intelligent  ministers  and  as  good 
preachers  as  the  churches  can  supply.  It  is  the  ex- 
perience of  all  those  who  can  lay  claim  to  these  qualifi- 
cations, who  have  entered  upon  the  work  of  the  relig- 
ious instruction  of  the  Negroes,  that  instead  of  re- 
quiring less  talents  and  learning,  they  have  needed  more 
than  they  possessed,  and  that  they  found  the  benefit 
of  all  t\ie  knowledge  they  had  acquired,"  The  fact 
that  this  was  printed  in  a  book  on  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  Negroes,  at  Savannah  in  1824,  and  that  it 
relates  to  the  white  ministers  in  their  mission  to  slaves, 
emphasizes  the  need  of  trained  ministers  for  a  race  of 
freemen  of  to-day. 

Second.  To  hold  the  rising  generation  to  the 
Church,  a  trained  ministry  is  imperative.  The  Negro 
ministry  of  to-day  faces  new  conditions.  Freed  men 
from  slavery  are  passing  away.  Bom  free  men  and 
their  children,  with  forty  years  of  educational  oppor- 
tunity, are  at  the  front.  The  Negro  has  been  given  a 
chance  never  before  given  to  any  destitute  race  in  all 
history,  and  he  has  shown  his  native  worth  by  taking 
that  chance.  Nearly  one-half  of  the  race  reads.  The 
school  teacher  is  abroad.  There  is  keen  thirst  for 
knowledge.  The  teacher  is  the  oracle  in  a  thousand 
places.  The  educated  physician  claims  respect.  The 
newspaper  is  in   hand.     Civilization   is  working  tre- 


i64     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

mendous  changes.  The  people  read ;  they  think.  The 
world  of  literature,  good  and  bad,  is  open  to  them. 
The  church  is  no  longer  the  only  center  of  attraction. 
The  voice  of  the  minister  is  no  longer  the  voice  of  God. 
New  centers  of  life  and  thought  are  forming.  The  fact 
for  the  Negro  ministry  of  to-day  to  face  is  this  —  the 
church  has  rivals.  It  no  longer  is  supreme  in  the 
thought  and  affection  of  the  people,  merely  because  it 
is  the  church.  It  must  prove  by  its  life  and  works  its 
right  to  existence  and  support.  The  church  of  to-day 
must,  by  its  spiritual  power  and  moral  leadership, 
establish  its  claim  to  the  credence  and  devotion  of 
thoughtful,  pure  and  aspiring  men  and  women  —  or 
lose  its  hold  on  the  race. 

The  education  of  the  masses  has  swept  whole  congre- 
gations beyond  the  ministers.  The  low  moral  life  and 
debased  ethical  standards  of  too  large  a  number  in 
some  communions,  repel  multitudes  of  self-respecting 
and  aspiring  people.  With  their  thinking  minds,  their 
knowledge  of  the  Word,  their  awakening  conscience, 
their  loftier  ideals  of  righteousness,  their  thirsting 
after  the  truth,  the  question  rises  to  the  solemnity  of 
a  problem  —  how  are  we  to  hold  this  rising  generation 
to  the  church  ? 

The  answer  is  clear:  only  through  a  trained,  high- 
souled,  and  consecrated  ministry,  endued  with  intel- 
ligence and  power,  can  the  young  people  of  the  present 
generation  be  drawn  and  saved  to  the  church. 

Another  problem  that  confronts  the  Negro  ministry, 
is  the  need  of  men  who  have  the  qualities  of  leadership 
and  are  able  to  meet  the  demands  for  the  civil,  moral 
and  social  reforms  which  in  State  and  Church  are 
bound  to  come,  and  that  demand  Christian  leadership. 
To  hold  such  power  demands  a  ministry  that  proves 
by  its  masterful  grasp  and  its  brave  treatment  of  all 
questions  that  make  for  the  civil,  educational,  and  moral 


TRAINING   OF   NEGRO   MINISTERS         165 

uplift  of  the  people,  its  right  to  leadership.  In  social 
upheavals  and  reformations,  in  righting  the  wrongs 
of  the  people,  how  often  has  history  witnessed  an  in- 
fidel leadership  assuming  control  and  direction.  Ob- 
serve Tom  Paine  and  French  infidelity  in  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution.  The  ministry,  because  it  lagged  in 
the  beginnings  of  the  anti-slavery  movement,  is  placed 
in  a  false  position,  which  it  has  for  a  generation  been 
explaining  away.  The  reforms  now  needed,  and  that, 
through  an  aggressive  and  alert  ministry,  may  come  in 
peace,  must  find  origin  in  the  Gospel ;  but  in  a  gospel 
interpreted  and  enforced  by  educated,  catholic  brain, 
reaching  not  the  few,  but  the  masses  of  both  races. 

Another  problem  in  the  effort  of  the  ministry  to 
elevate  the  Negro,  is  to  provide  missionaries  of  ability 
and  worth,  men  with  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity  and 
devotion  to  Christ,  who  will  carry  the  Gospel  into  the 
darkest  places  of  the  South.  The  cry  for  help  has  in  it 
the  undertone  of  despair.  Who  will  rise  to  go  ?  Who 
should  go  ?  The  cry  is  for  strong  men  —  men  of  educa- 
tion and  devotion  to  God,  who  can  save  multitudes  of 
these  people  from  threatened  relapse  into  barbarism  — 
a  coarse,  low,  hopeless  condition  of  life.  It  takes,  not 
the  ignorant  ministers  and  lay  preachers  for  such 
work,  but  men  strong  of  brain  and  large  of  heart  and 
piu-e  in  life  —  the  very  best  talent  that  the  Church  can 
command. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  is  it  not  evident  that  any 
adequate  treatment  of  the  relation  of  moral  and  relig- 
ious education  to  the  life  of  the  nation,  must  have 
clearly  in  view  the  ten  million  Negroes  in  our  land, 
whose  enforced  segregation  becomes  yearly  more 
marked.  All  the  motives  of  patriotism,  philanthropy, 
love  to  Christ,  unite  in  urging  help  from  every  patriot 
and  friend  of  humanity.  And  to  the  colleges  and  pro- 
fessional schools  we  must  look  for  our  trained  teachers, 


i66     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

helpers,  and  leaders,  who  shall  redeem  a  race,  and  thus 
safeguard  the  higher  moral  and  religious  life  of  a 
nation. 


RELIGION    IN    PUBLIC-SCHOOL    EDUCATION 

CLYDE  W.  VOTAW,  Ph.  D. 

PROFESSOR,    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    CHICAGO,    CHICAGO,    ILL. 

What  do  we  mean  by  religion?  Is  religion  to  be 
identified  with  ecclesiastical  organization,  creed,  ritual, 
I  and  emotionalism,  so  that  when  these  are  dismissed 
nothing  remains?  In  most  of  the  discussions  over 
the  Bible  and  religion  in  the  pubHc  schools,  this  seems 
'  to  be  the  point  of  view.  The  partisan  advocates  of 
particular  sects,  the  zealous  guardians  of  religious 
liberty,  and  the  vigorous  opponents  of  everything 
called  religious,  all  join  hands  to  keep  the  Bible  and 
religion  out  of  the  public  schools. 

But  this  conception  of  religion  so  generally  held  by 
Christians  differs  from  that  held  by  Jesus,  whom  we 
Christians  profess  to  follow.  He  did  not  make  religion 
to  consist  in  ecclesiasticism,  or  in  doctrinal  belief,  or  in 

1   ritualism,  or  in  emotionalism.     He  gave  to  his  followers 

1  no  ecclesiastical  organization,  no  theological  creed,  no 
ritual  or  ceremonial  system,  no  standard  type  of  emo- 
tional experience.  To  him  religion  was  an  ideal  of  life. 
Religion  meant  righteousness,  the  doing  of  God's  will, 

'  the  possession  of  the  qualities  of  character  described  in 
the  Beatitudes,  the  doing  of  the  good  and  helpful  deeds 
described  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  parables, 
the  love  to  God  and  love  to  men  in  which  the  law  and 
the  prophets  were  summarized,  the  practice  of  justice, 
mercy,  and  faith,  the  weightier  matters  of  human  obli- 
gation which  men  were  leaving  undone.  This  was 
what  religion  meant  to  him,  and  this  is  what  religion 

3  should  mean  for  us. 


RELIGION   IN   PUBLIC-SCHOOL   EDUCATION     167 

It  is  worth  while  also  to  observe  that  Judaism  pre- 
sents substantially  the  same  ideal  of  life,  when  the 
prophetic  ideal  rather  than  the  legal  or  ritual  ideal  is 
considered.  The  prophetic  ideal  is  summarized  by 
Micah  (vi.8)  in  the  words:  "What  doth  the  Lord  re- 
quire of  thee  but  to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to 
walk  humbly  with  thy  God?"  And  in  Amos  (v. 2 4): 
"Let  justice  roll  down  as  waters,  and  righteousness  as 
a    mighty   stream." 

Religion,  therefore,  as  interpreted  by  Jesus,  and  by 
all  Christianity  that  has  been  faithful  to  his  teaching, 
and  by  the  Hebrew  prophets  upon  whose  foiindation 
he  built,  means  reverence,  trust,  obedience,  faithful- 
ness, industry,  sincerity,  honesty,  truthfulness,  right- 
eousness, justice,  purity,  honor,  kindness,  sympathy, 
helpfulness,  health,  and  happiness.  Religion  is  an 
ideal  of  life.  For  all  of  these  qualities  and  acts  the 
actual  \eachings  of  Jesus  can  be  cited,  and  his 
own  example  shown.  These  qualities  and  acts  there- 
fore set  forth  the  ideal  of  life  which  religion  at  its  best 
proposes. 

Have  these  religious  qualities  and  acts  any  place  in 
public -school  education  ?  Do  the  children  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  need  development  in  reverence,  trust,  obed- 
ience, faithfulness,  industry,  sincerity,  honesty,  truth- 
fulness, righteousness,  justice,  purity,  honor,  kindness, 
sympathy,  helpfulness,  health,  and  happiness?  Or 
can  these  matters  of  religion  be  left  to  the  home  and 
the  church  ?  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  representative 
official  of  the  public  schools  would  exclude  the  incul- 
cation of  and  training  in  these  qualities  and  acts  from 
the  work  of  the  public  schools.  It  is  not  religion  as  an 
ideal  of  life  that  the  public -school  men  are  opposed  to 
but  religion  as  sectarian  organization  and  sectarian 
theology. 

The  National  Education  Association  at  its  annual 


1 68     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

convention  held  three  years  ago  (1905)  passed  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  touching  this  point : 

"The  Association  regrets  the  revival  in  some  quarters 
of  the  idea  that  the  common  school  is  a  place  for  teach- 
ing nothing  but  reading,  spelling,  writing,  and  cipher- 
ing; and  takes  this  occasion  to  declare  that  the  ulti- 
mate object  of  popular  education  is  to  teach  the  chil- 
dren how  to  live  righteously,  healthily,  and  happily, 
and  that  to  accomplish  this  object  it  is  essential  that 
every  school  inculcate  the  love  of  truth,  justice,  purity 
and  beauty  through  the  study  of  biography,  history, 
ethics,  natural  history,  music,  drawing,  and  manual 

arts The    building    of    character    is    the 

real  aim  of  the  schools,  and  the  ultimate  reason  for  the 
expenditure  of  millions  for  their  maintenance." 

The  aim  of  the  schools,  is,  therefore,  according  to 
this  notable  utterance  of  educators,  religious;  for  it 
upholds  the  standard  of  life  that  religion  upholds.  And 
the  public  school,  in  striving  "to  teach  the  children 
how  to  live  righteously,  healthily,  and  happily ' ' —  one 
would  wish  to  add  usefully  —  is  doing  the  work  of  re- 
ligion. The  teachers  of  America  are  inspired  with  the 
genuinely  religious  purpose  to  promote  nobility  of 
character  and  social  usefulness  in  the  children  of  the 
schools.  They  rightly  resent  the  imputation  that  they 
are   mere   knowledge   mongers. 

The  Bible  teaches  the  ideal  life.  The  exclusion  of 
the  Bible  from  the  public  schools,  so  far  as  such  exclusion 
exists,  is  on  the  ground  that  the  book  is  sectarian  or  is 
used  to  teach  sectarianism.  The  Roman  Catholic  natu- 
rally objects  to  having  the  Bible  interpreted  to  his 
children  by  Protestant  teachers,  and  the  Jew  naturally 
objects  to  having  the  Bible  taught  his  children  by 
Christian  teachers,  and  the  non-religious  man  naturally 
objects  to  the  use  of  a  religious  book  with  his  children. 
Undoubtedly  there  has  been  just  reason  for  these  ob- 


RELIGION   IN   PUBLIC-SCHOOL   EDUCATION    169 

jections  in  the  actual  interpretation  given  the  Bible  in 
the  public  schools.  Protestant  Christian  teachers  may 
very  easily  present  the  Bible  teaching  as  they  under- 
stand it,  with  their  particular  sectarianism  more  or 
less  prominent,  and  this  interpretation  will  be  more  or 
less  unfavorable  to  Roman  Catholicism,  Judaism,  and 
irreligion. 

But  those  who  count  themselves  the  opponents  of 
religion  are  generally  opponents,  not  of  religion  as  an 
ideal  of  life,  but  of  religion  as  some  type  of  ecclesias- 
V  ticism  or  doctrine  or  ritual  or  emotionalism.  The  so- 
called  secularists  are  in  favor  of  the  qualities  and  acts 
listed  above  as  constituting  the  true  ideal  of  life,  and 
they  certainly  wish  the  public  schools  to  give  training 
in  these  virtues.  They  would  agree  that  the  aim  of  the 
schools  is  the  making  of  ideal  men  and  women.  ■/ 

If  we  could  have  the  Bible  used  in  the  public  school, 
in  such  a  way  as  only  to  present  and  to  impress  this 
ideal  of  life  about  which  we  are  all  practically  agreed, 
the  objection  to  its  use  in  the  schools  might  disappear. 
One  could  use  many  parables  and  others  portions  of 
Jesus'  teaching  and  deeds,  together  with  many  passages 
in  the  New  Testament  epistles  and  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  have  a  content  and  purpose  directed 
simply  to  the  ideal  life.  If  teachers  could  be  shown 
how  to  select  suitable  material  from  the  Bible  for 
school  use,  and  could  be  shown  how  to  avoid  sectarian  i  y 
influence  in  their  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  and  could 
be  brought  to  see  the  usefulness,  power,  and  beauty  of 
many  portions  of  the  Bible  for  character-building,  the  \ 
great  obstacle  to  the  Bible  in  the  schools  might  be 
removed. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  sectarianism  and  theology  are 
data  of  the  adult  mind.  They  find  almost  no  place  in  the 
mental  life  of  the  child,  and  the  actual  influence  of  such 
portions  of  the  Bible  when  read  in  the  hearing  of  the 


170     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

child  is  very  much  less  than  we  often  suppose.  We 
adults  are  so  excitable  over  matters  of  church  organ- 
ization and  doctrine  and  ritual  that  we  easily  imagine 
the  children  too  are  concerned  with  these  subjects; 
but  quite  the  opposite  is  the  case.  Let  one  try  to  ex- 
plain to  a  child  of  even  thirteen  years  the  difference 
between  the  Roman  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  ideas 
of  ecclesiastical  government,  or  the  distinction  between 
the  divinity  and  the  humanity  of  Christ,  or  the  signifi- 
cance of  baptism,  or  the  characteristics  of  Paul's  re- 
ligious experience;  he  will  see  that  these  things  have 
little  meaning  or  value  for  the  child. 

What  the  children  in  the  public  schools  need,  and 
what  the  Bible  if  reasonably  used  can  help  them  to 
get,  is  an  understanding  of  life  from  a  simple,  practical 
standpoint.  To  train  boys  and  girls  in  the  right  way  to 
live,  to  teach  them  the  right  things  to  Hve  for  —  this  is 
the  goal  of  public -school  education.  We  should  find 
a  way  to  use  the  Bible  in  the  schools  solely  for  this 
purpose. 

Religion  as  an  ideal  of  life,  therefore,  is  at  the  foun- 
dation of  our  public-school  aim  and  work.  This  is  not 
strange,  for  the  schools  were  created  by  religionists  to 
promote  the  work  of  religion,  namely,  the  development 
of  the  ideal  life  in  boys  and  girls.  The  public  schools 
have  not  departed  from  this  task  originally  set  them ; 
on  the  contrary,  every  decade  marks  great  advance  in 
the  capacity  and  the  efficiency  of  the  schools  for  this 
end.  The  institutions  of  popular  education  during 
the  past  century  have  made  rapid  and  remarkable 
progress  as  agencies  for  human  betterment.  And  they 
grow  more  fundamentally  religious  along  with  their 
other  growth,  for  the  character-building  function  of  the 
schools  becomes  clearer  and  more  pervasive  as  scien- 
tific education  establishes  its  principles  and  methods. 


MORAL  TRAINING   THROUGH   PATRIOTISM     171 


MORAL  TRAINING  THROUGH  PATRIOTISM 

CHARLES  WHITING  WILLIAMS. 

ASSISTANT   TO   THE    PRESIDENT,    OBERLIN     COLLEGE,    OBERLIN,    OHIO 

The  time  has  passed  when  the  need  of  greater  re- 
ligious and  moral  instruction  in  the  public  schools  can 
be  considered  a  debatable  question.  It  hardly  seems 
too  much  to  say  that  an  indefinite  continuance  of  the 
present  situation  threatens  the  very  existence  of  our 
whole  public-school  system.  Already  thousands  — 
indeed  millions  —  of  children  are  being  withdrawn  from 
the  public  institutions,  where  our  hope  of  an  ideal, 
caste-less  democracy  requires  they  should  remain,  and 
are  being  placed  in  parochial  and  private  establish- 
ments where  a  completer  training  gives  greater  recog- 
nition to  the  mora]  nature.  Already  it  is  being  seri- 
ously recommended  that  education  as  a  whole  be  given 
over  to  the  religious  bodies,  they  to  be  superintended 
and  reimbursed  for  outlay  in  every  department  except 
that  of  religious  culture.  Nor  can  this  be  wondered  at 
when  the  business  men  of  one  of  our  greatest  cities  have 
petitioned  for  the  reestablishment  of  religious  instruc- 
tion as  rendered  imperative  in  view  of  the  notably 
decreased  dependableness  of  their  young  employees 
trained  under  the  present  regime ;  and  when  the  police- 
court  blotter  bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  by  far  our 
most  criminal  class  is  made  up  of  the  American-bom 
and  American-educated  sons  of  foreign-bom  parents. 
These  young  men  devote  all  the  strength  and  cunning 
of  energetic  bodies  and  trained  brains  to  following  the 
paths  of  crime  simply  for  the  reason  that,  after  dis- 
missing the  orthodox  piety  of  their  parents  as  un-Amer- 
ican, they  are  nowhere  in  the  course  of  their  training 
as  citizens  brought  into  contact  with  any  system  of 
moral  obligation  with  which  to  take  its  place. 


172     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

The  problem  has  come  upon  us,  of  course,  Hke  all 
others,  by  a  natural  evolution.  Little  by  little  there 
has  developed  a  multiplicity  of  jealous  creeds  and 
sects  whose  adherents,  rightly  or  wrongly,  feel  it  to  be 
unjust  that  with  the  taxes  they  contribute  their  chil- 
dren should  be  taught  a  belief  unfriendly  to  their  own 
in  a  country  guaranteeing  religious  freedom.  What  is 
most  worth  noticing  is  this :  that  the  resultant  more  or 
less  complete  elimination  of  the  religious  teaching  ob- 
jected to  indicates  that,  after  all,  the  point  of  view  of 
the  protesting  citizens  has  been  sustained  before  the 
bar  of  public  opinion.  This  should  be  most  clearly 
kept  in  mind  by  those  who  consider  the  problem's 
solution  to  be  merely  a  matter  of  forcibly  and  imme- 
diately reinstating  what  has  been  thus  gradually  and  in 
fair-mindedness  displaced.  It  means  plainly  that  only 
the  most  studied  compromise  is  to  be  thought  of.  Even 
this  vanishes  into  the  thin  air  of  the  impracticable ;  for 
harmonious  agreement  on  even  the  most  meagre  out- 
line of  creedal  faith  becomes,. in  actuality,  a  most  diffi- 
cult and  hopeless  matter  ,  "  Bible  reading  without 
note  or  comment,"  for  instance?  But,  pray  which 
Bible  —  Hebrew,  Catholic,  King  James  or  Revised  ? 
Judging  from  all  the  signs  it  seems  certain  that  long 
before  all  the  details  of  such  a  "working  agreement" 
could  be  arranged  there  would  be  abundant  opportu- 
nity for  the  consideration  and  the  trial  of  all  other  con- 
ceivable solutions. 

Without  further  proving  or  parleying,  then,  let  us 
hasten  to  the  investigation  of  a  remedy  adopted  by  the 
Japanese  for  the  treatment  of  this  same  national  dis- 
temper, and  proved,  in  their  experience  at  least,  suc- 
cessfiil. 

After  her  introduction  to  the  civilization  of  Chris- 
tendom, Japan  sent  to  every  part  of  the  Western  world 
experts   commissioned   to   report  the  most  approved 


MORAL  TRAINING  THROUGH   PATRIOTISM     173 

means  of  meeting  and  mastering  every  one  of  the  mul- 
titudinous obstacles  in  the  way  of  her  becoming  the 
self-respecting  peer  of  her  new  acquaintances.  We 
may  feel  complimented  that  after  so  thorough  a  world- 
search,  to  which  all  the  best  intellects  of  a  marvelously 
acute  people  were  devoted,  our  public  school  was 
transplanted  to  the  shores  of  the  Inland  Sea  and  93 
per  cent  of  Nippon's  children  placed .  at  their  daily 
desks.  It  is  to  our  discredit,  however,  that  the  ex- 
perts felt  it  unsafe  to  allow  the  American  defect  of  in- 
sufficient moral  instruction  to  go  uncorrected.  At  the 
same  time  the  study  of  the  German  system  of  sending 
representatives  of  the  various  creeds  to  the  school 
children  in  accordance  with  the  choice  of  parents  seems 
to  have  appeared  to  them  open  to  political  tampering 
and  likely  to  be  productive  of  general  disunity.  At 
any  rate  the  report  favored  utilizing  as  an  instrument 
of  moral  training,  patriotism,  in  the  sense  not  of  mere 
glorification  of  one's  country  but  of  devotion  to  its 
highest  good;  believing  it  fitted  to  accomplish  moral 
ends  through  the  growing  appreciation  of  the  close 
connection  between  this  highest  good  of  the  nation  and 
the  righteousness  and  nobleness  of  its  individual  citi- 
zens. As  a  result  there  appeared  what  is  called  the 
"Rescript  of  1890"  as  issuing  from  His  Imperial  Maj- 
esty, the  Mikado.  Preserved  in  its  sacred  niche,  a 
part  of  the  celebration  of  every  public  occasion  in  every 
school  in  Nippon  is  its  ceremonious  reading : 
Know  Ye,  Our  Subjects : 
Our  Imperial  Ancestors  have  founded  Our  Empire 
on  a  basis  broad  and  everlasting  and  have  deeply  and 
firmly  implanted  virtue;  Our  subjects  ever  united  in 
loyalty  and  filial  piety  have  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion illustrated  the  beauty  thereof.  This  is  the  glory 
of  the  fundamental  character  of  Our  Empire,  and 
herein  also  lies  the  source  of  Our  education. 


174     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

Ye,  Our  subjects,  be  filial  to  your  parents,  affec- 
tionate to  your  brothers  and  sisters ;  as  husbands  and 
wives  be  harmonious,  as  friends,  true ;  bear  yourselves 
in  modesty  and  moderation ;  extend  your  benevolence 
to  all ;  pursue  learning  and  cultivate  arts,  and  thereby 
develop  intellectual  faculties  and  perfect  moral  powers. 

Furthermore,  advance  public  good  and  promote 
common  interests;  always  respect  the  Constitution 
and  observe  the  laws;  should  emergency  arise  offer 
yourselves  courageously  to  the  State;  and  thus  guard 
and  maintain  the  prosperity  of  Our  Imperial  Throne 
coeval  with  heaven  and  earth.  So  shall  ye  not  only  be 
Our  good  and  faithful  subjects,  but  render  illustrious 
the  best  traditions  of  your  forefathers. 

The  Way  here  set  forth  is  indeed  the  teaching  be- 
queathed by  Our  Imperial  Ancestors,  to  be  observed 
alike  by  their  descendants  and  their  subjects,  infallible 
for  all  ages  and  true  in  all  places.  It  is  Our  wish  to  lay 
it  to  heart  in  all  reverence  in  common  with  you.  Our 
subjects,  that  we  may  all  thus  attain  to  the  same 
virtue. 

"This  rescript,  "says  Baron  Kaneko,  speaking  of 
the  system's  success,  "  ever  before  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
may  be  taken  as  the  essence,  the  soul,  of  the  national 
policy.  It  may  serve  as  some  explanation,  to  those 
who  wonder,  of  the  loyalty  and  self-sacrifice,  alike 
among  the  soldiers  in  the  field  and  among  their  kindred 
at  home,  which  has  characterized  every  day  of  the 
recent  war 

"  The  readers  consist  of  chapters  of  our  own  nation- 
al history,  benevolent  acts  of  the  Emperor  and  the 
Empress,  heroic  deeds  of  our  generals  and  our  admirals, 
famous  works  of  our  scholars  and  our  statesmen,  the 
writings  of  our  great  poets  —  all,  in  fact,  that  can  broad- 
en, ennoble,  and  uplift  the  national  character  in  its 
formative  and  plastic  period,  youth.     Instead  of  nar- 


MORAL  TRAINING  THROUGH   PATRIOTISM    175 

rowing  the  pupil's  horizon  by  purely  domestic  examples, 
we  take  care  to  insert  frequently,  among  the  chapters 
mentioned,  a  similar  account  of  the  great  deeds  of  the 
great  men  of  others  countries.  The  characters  and 
deeds  of  George  Washington,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Napoleon,  Nelson,  Frederick  the 
Great,  Darwin,  Florence  Nightingale,  the  work  of  every 
epoch-making  mind,  every  beacon-light  of  the  world's 
history,  we  seek  to  make  familiar  to  our  children  as  an 
important  part  of  their  education . ' ' 

Now  it  may  be  objected  that  the  plan  must  be  voted 
a  failure  in  view  of  the  lamentable  reputation  of  the 
Japanese  as  regards  certain  of  what  we  call  moral 
qualities.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  Japan  is 
just  now  in  the  midst  of  the  transition  from  a  communal 
to  an  individualistic  basis  of  society  with  all  the  shift- 
ing of  moral  values  therein  implied,  and  that  in  the 
Japanese  tongue  the  word  for  chastity  as  meaning  the 
same  for  a  man  as  for  a  woman  does  not  yet  exist. 
The  system  should  hardly  be  blamed  for  not  accom- 
plishing what  it  was  never  meant  to  accomplish  —  to 
remedy  a  need  never  perceived  as  a  need.  Similarly, 
too,  it  may  be  urged  that  patriotism  with  us  is  a  very 
different  matter  from  that  found  in  a  coimtry  where 
the  social  organization  is  a  semi-sacred  hierarchy  lead- 
ing step  by  step  up  to  the  Mikado  who  is  at  once  head  of 
the  state  and  the  object  of  religious  reverence.  Yet 
this  at.  most  can  only  be  a  difference  in  intensity  —  and 
a  slight  one  —  rather  than  in  quality  or  essence,  since 
the  Rescript  contains  no  demand  with  which  our  own 
patriotism  would  not  gladly  comply. 

Now  if  this  instance  of  the  use  of  the  love  of  country 
for  moral  purposes  were  the  only  citable  example  it 
would  still  be  immensely  significant  in  view  of  its  hav- 
ing come  after  that  thorough  study  of  the  whole  world- 
field  which  in  this  and  other  connections  has  been  re- 


176     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

sponsible  for  so  much  of  Japan's  phenomenal  progress. 
But  other  examples  are  not  wanting. 

France,  whose  reputation  for  immorality  and  im- 
morality would  lead  us  last  to  her  in  such  a  quest, 
seems  to  have  beheld  the  handwriting  on  the  walls  of 
her  national  life,  and  has  been  one  of  the  chief  to  bring 
to  bear  upon  the  straightening  of  her  moral  paths  the 
citizen's  devotion  to  the  state.  Her  schools  are  now 
daity  teaching  a  most  carefully  elaborated  system  of 
ethics,  coming  as  close  as  may  be  to  dogmatic  religion 
and  calculated  throughout  to  develop  sound  private 
character  in  a  state  threatened  with  moral  dryrot. 
Nor  is  this  all.  In  every  public  place  the  citizens  read 
posters  issued  by  one  of  the  ministries  calling  attention 
in  a  sane  but  superlatively  serious  way  to  the  evils  of 
alcoholism  and  the  need  of  abstinence  as  demanded 
not  only  "by  the  welfare  of  the  individual  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  family  but  by  the  very  preservation  of 
the  state. "  It  is  said  that  at  one  time  the  effort  to 
strengthen  patriotism  for  the  attaining  of  these  moral 
ends  was  so  general  that  the  wise  exhibitor  at  the  an- 
nual Salon  was  he  who  chose  a  patriotic  subject  for 
his  work,  and  so  gained  the  diplomatic  as  well  as  the 
aesthetic  favor  of  the  governments'  judges. 

Great  Britain,  likewise,  has  chosen  patriotism  as 
affording  the  most  powerful  leverage  in  a  time  of  seri- 
ous stress  caused  by  the  besotted  condition  of  her 
working  man.  Nor  has  the  choice  been  proved  ill- 
advised.  Almost  within  the  limits  of  months  a  tre- 
mendous improvement  has  been  gained  through  no- 
thing else  than  the  response  of  every  class  to  the  call 
for  a  devotion  to  the  Union  Jack  which  should  keep  it 
waving  in  every  sea  by  means  of  abstinence  and  in- 
creased, individual  efficiency  at  home. 

In  Germany  the  Emperor  has  been  realizing  his 
dreams  for  the  advancement  of  the  Fatherland  by  ap- 


MORAL  TRAINING  THROUGH   PATRIOTISM    177 

plying  the  constant  stimulus  of  a  patriotism  which 
should  stop  at  nothing.  Even  though  it  seems  to  us 
of  ten-times  rather  a  selfish  glorification  than  "ad- 
vancement" which  lies  closest  to  his  heart,  we  cannot 
but  believe  that  in  all  sincerity  and  genuineness  he 
conceives  his  country's  highest  welfare  bound  up  in- 
separably with  the  religious  rightness  of  his  subjects. 
Religion  and  patriotism  thus  have  come  to  mean  al- 
most the  same  thing  to  him.  It  requires  only  the 
slightest  knowledge  of  Germany's  wonderful  growth 
since  his  coronation  to  realize  the  vast  effectiveness  of 
his  appeal. 

In  our  own  land  the  president  is  the  incarnation  of 
that  belief  in  private  character  as  determining  the  pub- 
lic good  which  it  is  proposed  to  utilize.  His  "square 
deal"  and  the  other  private  virtues  insisted  upon  in 
so  many  of  his  utterances  are  not  urged  as  desired  by  a 
duty-claiming  God  nor  by  an  abstract,  impersonal 
"society."  They  are  demanded  by  the  welfare  of  the 
country.  And  certainly  no  one  can  deny  that  the 
argument  and  the  nation's  response  to  it  have  put  us 
an  almost  unbelieveably  great  way  forward  on  our 
journey  toward  the  attainment  of  our  ideals. 

It  is  to  be  noted  here  that  with  us  patriotism  re- 
sembles that  of  the  Japanese  in  its  unusual  loftiness 
and  purity  as  a  sentiment  and  its  powers  as  a  motive. 
The  German,  Miinsterberg,  points  out  that  "American 
patriotism  is  unique  in  that  it  is  directed  neither  to 
soil  nor  citizen  but  to  a  system  of  ideas  —  and  ideals  — 
respecting  society  and  is  a  community  of  purpose  for 
their  realization."  It  is  no  wonder  that  in  such  a 
coimtry  the  national  spirit  should  be  \mconsciously 
and  imperfectly  adopted,  as  it  has  already  been,  in 
those  cities  where  some  permissible  form  of  moral  ctd- 
ture  has  been  demanded. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  such  a  tiniversal  adop- 

St.  Anthony's  Seminary    , 


178     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

tion  of  one  social  force  as  fitted  above  all  others  for  ac- 
complishing the  gravest  conceivable  purposes  is  not  a 
mere  coincidence.  The  reason  is  to  be  found,  it  seems 
to  me,  both  in  the  positive  qualities  of  patriotism  and 
the  negative  qualities  —  the  defects  —  of  the  two  other 
common  social  agencies  —  religion  and  ethics.  Of 
these  the  first  should  be  in  truth  "  the  power"  to  which 
every  recourse  should  be  made.  But  is  it  not  true 
that  the  Christian  religion  is,  or  has  been,  too  individ- 
ualistic to  exert  the  greatest  force  where  broad  social 
tmity  in  effort  and  effect  is  vital  ?  The  circle  about  a 
man  and  his  God  has  been  too  small  and  too  private 
for  the  intrusion  of  the  nation,  and  its  needs ;  and  too 
personal,  too  peculiar,  to  bring  the  desired  unified 
reaction.  Ethics  on  the  other  hand,  while  possessing 
the  incontestable  reasonablenses  of  deriving  moral 
values  from  the  experience  of  the  race,  has  been  too 
abstract,  too  hopelessly  general,  to  exert  a  proportion- 
ately considerable  influence  on  the  actions  of  men. 
The  circle  here  has  been  too  great. 

Patriotism  combines  these  advantages  and  lacks 
these  defects.  The  nation  is  the  social  unit,  a  part  of 
society  set  off  definitely  and  concretely  by  itself  within 
tangible  boimdaries  of  river,  mountain,  or  sea.  In- 
stead of  the  huge,  over-awing  "society"  of  ethics, 
patriotism  presents  a  particular  family  of  the  human 
race,  living  in  a  particular  place,  speaking  a  particular 
language,  hoping  a  particular  hope,  suffering  in  a  par- 
ticular way  as  the  result  of  a  particular  set  of  mistakes 
and  follies.  Its  appeal,  accordingly,  is  always  particu- 
lar, concrete,  perfectly  understood  by  all  and  calling 
out  a  response  unified  to  the  highest  degree. 

That  is  not  all.  It  possesses  in  large  measure  the 
emotional  power  of  religion.  For  the  sake  of  national 
self-preservation  patriotism  has  been  fostered  in  all 
times  as  a  sentiment  lofty  and  altogether  worthy.     It 


MORAL  TRAINING  THROUGH   PATRIOTISM     179 

lays  strong  hold,  accordingly,  upon  the  heart  and 
through  it  gains  access  to  that  vast  store  of  human 
motive  power  lying  just  behind  the  ought,  to  which 
religion  possesses  the  single  other  key.  And  in  so  doing 
it  nowhere  suffers  from  contact  with  such  disruptive 
influences  as  creed  and  dogma.  Is  it  strange,  then, 
that  nations  should  unconsciously  call  to  their  aid 
a  force  possessing  the  rationality  of  ethics  without  its 
weakening  abstractness,  and  at  the  same  time  the  soul- 
power  of  religion  without  its  discordant  tendencies  ? 

It  should  perhaps  be  said  in  passing  that  the  fact 
that  the  state  does  call  to  its  aid  in  connections  so 
vital  the  love  of  country  indicates  that  it  has  reached 
a  high  development.  George  Adam  Smith  has  said, 
"Confine  religion  to  the  personal  and  it  grows  rancid, 
morbid.  Wed  it  to  patriotism  and  it  lives  in  the  open ; 
its  blood  is  pure."  This  may  be  going  too  far :  history 
would  seem  to  suggest  the  middle  course.  The  religion 
of  primitive  man  is  always  tribal.  His  morality  is 
tribal,  communal,  as  with  the  early  Jews  and  the 
Japanese  of  a  half -generation  ago.  Then  follows 
the  discovery  of  the  individual  after  some  social  cata- 
clysm from  internal  or  external  causes  and  the  anti- 
thesis results  —  the  individual  is  deified.  The  nation 
suffers  from  the  violent  transfer  of  emphasis  and  the 
synthesis  is  soon  established.  No  longer  nation  at 
the  cost  of  the  individual,  no  longer  individual  at  the 
expense  of  the  nation,  but  each  reaching  its  highest 
good  through  —  and  only  through  —  the  highest  good 
of  the  other. 

If  then  we  have  at  all  succeeded  in  showing  that 
patriotism  has  been  successfully  adapted  to  the  moral 
need  of  the  public  schools  of  Japan,  that  its  powerful 
leverage  is  constantly  being  used  for  the  attainment  of 
moral  ends  by  the  leading  nations  of  the  world,  that  its 
adoption  as  a  moral  agent  of  tremendous  power  is  the 


i8o     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

result  of  natural  causes,  and  that  America  is  particular- 
ly well  fitted  to  avail  itself  of  this  instrument ;  if,  in 
other  words,  the  fitness  of  patriotism  for  the  purpose 
proposed  is  shown  both  in  logic  and  experience,  it  may 
be  worth  while  to  take  a  few  moments  to  consider  the 
general  outlines  of  the  particular  embodiment  calcu- 
lated to  effect  the  bettering  of  our  present  public-school 
conditions.  I  say  "  general  outlines  "  because  the  com- 
plete details  would,  of  course,  need  to  be  carefully 
worked  out  by  a  commission  of  experts,  including  both 
idealists  and  practical  schoolmen  of  various  religious 
beliefs  chosen  for  the  purpose. 

Undoubtedly,  as  in  the  example  of  Japan,  as  much 
as  possible — probably  all — of  the  teaching  would  wisely 
be  embodied  in  the  books  and  other  school  machinery 
now  in  use,  even  though  this  would  require  the  revision 
of  practically  every  text-book.  For  the  child,  the 
primer  and  reader  would  contain  examples  of  such 
virtues  as  appeal  to  the  very  young  and  in  general  the 
attempt  would  be  to  satisfy  the  child's  desire  for  in- 
formation by  conveying  in  every  possible  way  such  an 
idea  of  the  simpler  surrounding  elements  of  American 
society  —  the  family,  the  school,  the  city,  all  with  their 
various  functions  of  helpfulness  —  as  to  prepare  the 
way  to  the  appreciation  of  citizenship  as  joint-owner- 
ship, and  as  such  demanding  at  once  gratitude,  coopera- 
tion and  fairness. 

The  boy  and  girl  would  be  approached,  in  turn, 
through  their  desire  to  collate  information,  find  laws, 
draw  deductions,  and  so  obtain  inspiration  for  the  cast- 
ing of  the  bread  of  cause  on  the  waters  of  law  confident 
of  its  later  return  in  the  form  of  effect.  History  in  the 
form  of  biography,  with  the  emphasis  on  greatness  as 
following  on  rightness,  suggests  itself  at  once.  Nor 
would  we  find  it  advisable  to  be  less  catholic  than  the 
Japanese  in  our  choice  of  heroes.     The  knowledge  of 


MORAL  TRAINING   THROUGH   PATRIOTISM    i8i 

other  peoples  and  lands  would  be  further  increased  by 
the  study  of  geography,  which,  as  J.  W.  Jenks  suggests, 
is  particularly  fitted  to  give  the  sense  of  natural  law  as 
determining — and  compelling — the  social  and  economic 
interdependence  of  localities,  states,  and  nations.  Even 
mathematics,  as  he  points  out,  could  well  be  made  the 
vehicle  of  the  social  and  national  teaching. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  imaginable  results  could  be 
obtained  by  giving  the  combined  energy  and  desire  to 
collect  and  collate,  characteristic  of  boy-  and  girl-hood, 
a  chance  to  express  itself  in  the  investigation  of  the 
results  of  the  every-day,  apparent  evils  on  the  individ- 
ual and  the  nation.  The  Spartans  used  occasionally 
to  send  a  drunken  slave  through  the  city  in  order  to 
give  their  young  men  an  object  lesson  of  the  disgusting 
shamefulness  of  intemperance.  The  respective  re- 
sults of  the  saloon  and  the  church  might  easily  be  in- 
vestigated in  such  a  way  as  would  do  no  harm  and  yet 
would  be  sure  to  leave  a  lasting  impression  because 
gained  through  the  whole  personality's  activity.  Lying 
and  truthfulness  and  other  evils  and  virtues  could  be 
similarly  compared  as  to  their  results.  This  practice 
in  forming  judgments  could  be  supplemented  by 
actual  service  in  doing,  perhaps  as  a  school  group,  con- 
crete good  —  helping  this  widow  or  that  orphan,  clean- 
ing this  street  or  reporting  that  alley.  If  all  our  higher 
education  is  insisting  that  nothing  is  really  learned 
until  it  has  gone  through  us  with  the  completeness  of 
the  laboratory  method,  why  should  not  moral  judg- 
ment be  taught  by  giving  opportimity  to  notice  what 
makes  this  wrong  and  that  right  ?  This,  it  seems  to  me, 
could  hardly  fail  to  have  better  results  than  our  present 
method  of  forcing  moral  judgments  upon  the  scholar 
as  having  no  connection  with  his  or  any  other  human 
point  of  view,  leaving  him  to  satisfy  his  curiosity 
through  the  terrible  laboratory  practice  of  "sowing 
wild  oats." 


i82     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

In  the  later  years  of  the  school  advantage  would  be 
taken  of  the  openness  of  the  spirit  of  youth  to  the  ap- 
peal of  ambition,  and  every  effort  be  made  to  direct  that 
ambition  into  noblest  channels.  Biographical  history 
and  literature,  the  attractiveness  of  the  greatest  men, 
the  evils  and  the  needs  of  the  state  and  of  the  world, 
and  the  laws  determining  one's  highest  efficiency  in 
meeting  them,  the  laws  of  personal  relations  —  all  these 
woiild  be  brought  out  in  a  system  built  by  practical 
idealists.  With  the  perfect  nation  in  mind  it  would 
seem  not  impossible  to  teach  all  citizens  an  inductive 
morality  which  would  lead  naturally  to  God  and  the 
Christ  ideal  in  a  progression  which  is  coming  more 
and  more  to  be  considered  rational.  Sin  from  any 
dogmatic  point  of  view  is  now  almost  unheard  of ;  even 
the  sentimental  view-point  is  passing — the  definition 
is,  as  it  were,  scientific.  Sin  is  foUy,  the  infraction  of 
nature's  —  God's  —  laws  regulating  spiritual  as  well  as 
physical,  the  pursuing  of  lawful  or  unlawful  objects  by 
unlawful  means,  the  unlawfulness  hurting  both  the 
individual  and  others  about  him.  I  believe  the  state 
is  rapidly  coming  to  the  time  when  there  will  be  no 
question  as  to  its  right  to  require,  and  its  duty  to  assist, 
obedience  to  this  higher  law,  for  the  reason  that  the 
effects  of  even  the  citizen's  most  individual  sinning  will 
be  seen  to  be  so  broadly  social,  so  nationally  harmful. 
This  requirement  and  this  assistance  will  mean  that  the 
state  for  its  preservation  and  prestige  will  find  it  nec- 
essary to  favor  the  teaching  of  religion  as  life  even 
though  as  dogma  it  will  continue  officially  taboo. 

In  other  words,  patriotism,  instead  of  setting  up  the 
worship  of  the  nation,  will  more  and  more  promote  the 
spiritual  life  and  worship  of  God,  untheological  though 
He  be,  because  it  will  be  evident  to  an  enlightened 
state  that  only  as  its  citizens  avoid  the  folly  of  breaking 
the  spiritual  law  and  avail  themselves  of  it  for  the  in- 


MORAL  TRAINING  THROUGH   PATRIOTISM     183 

crease  of  their  efficiency  and  happiness  will  it  attain  to 
its  ideals  of  contributing  the  maximum  to  "the  knowl- 
edge, the  moral  energy,  the  intellectual  happiness,  and 
the  spiritual  hope  and  consolation  of  mankind.  " 

Too  idealistic  does  this  seem  ?  To  us  at  this  moment 
perhaps  it  is.  But  who  shall  call  it  impracticable  for  a 
nation  fully  appreciating  religion  as  "  according-to- 
law-ness,"  and  imderstanding  the  vision  which  that 
makes  possible. 

The  minor  details  of  morning  exercises  and  other 
similar  methods  for  rounding  out  the  teaching  would, 
of  course,  be  arranged  by  the  commission.  Briefly,  its 
problem  would  be :  First,  to  make  the  teaching  broad 
enough  to  possess  the  concreteness  demanded  by  ener- 
getic, young,  human  beings.  Secondly,  to  employ  all 
the  latest  pedagogical  principles;  to  realize  that  the 
greatest  lessons  are  learned  through  unconscious  at- 
tention ;  to  see  and  utilize  the  child's  and  the  youth's 
point  of  view  in  all  its  manifestations  of  "gang,"  love 
of  contest,  etc.  Third,  to  remember  that  the  greatest 
of  all  forces  is  personality  whether  embodied  in  flesh 
and  blood  or  in  biographical  ink.  Fourth,  that  the 
laboratory  method  has  so  proven  its  value  in  fields  where 
it  has  been  tried  as  to  warrant  its  favorable  considera- 
tion in  other  connections.  Fifth  and  lastly,  to  remem- 
ber that  patriotism  in  the  plan  proposed  is  a  means  not 
an  end. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  we  have  not  a  paternal  govern- 
ment fitted  to  take  the  step  necessary  to  supply  at  once 
the  remedy  demanded  by  the  acuteness  of  the  moral 
and  religious  —  or  rather  the  immoral  and  irreligious  — 
condition  of  our  boys  and  girls.  But,  as  has  been  said, 
"successful  trial  in  one  state  is  followed  so  quickly  by 
initiation  in  others  that  our  system  is  practically  a 
national  one ' '  and  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  national 
adoption  not  so  great  as  they  might  seem.      I  believe 


i84     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

the  situation  is  now  such  that  if  the  cure  can  be  found 
its  adoption  will  take  care  of  itself.  Though  the  Re- 
ligious Education  Association  was  not,  as  I  understand 
it,  conceived  for  the  promulgation  of  any  definite  pro- 
gram of  educational  reform  or  improvement,  it  may  not 
be  out  of  order  to  ask  if  the  recent  rapid  development 
of  the  need  does  not  warrant  at  least  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  of,  say,  three  or  five  for  the  proposal  of  a 
detailed  program  after  giving  time  and  money  to  as 
careful  a  study  of  the  problem  and  its  treatment  in 
every  Christian  land  as  would  be  given  by  Japanese  or 
German  commissioned  experts. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  I  believe  the  commission, 
by  a  process  of  elimination,  would  come  to  agreement 
upon  some  such  scheme  as  has  here  been  outlined.  But 
whether  that  is  true  or  not,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is 
worthy  between  New  York  and  Manilla,  —  and  through 
the  tremendous  moral  responsibilities  which  the  God  of 
nations  has  seen  fit  to  give  us  this  means  all  that  is 
worthy  in  twentieth-century  life  —  let  us  have  definite, 
thorough,  expert,  responsible  study  of  the  need  before 
there  arises  a  generation  blind  to  its  existence  because 
their  eyes  have  seen  not  better  things.  For  there  is  not 
one  member  of  the  Association  who  does  not  know  that, 
spiritual  laws  being  as  they  are,  the  coming  of  that 
generation  has  within  itself  the  possibility  of  spelling 
for  America  the  beginning  of  the  end. 


MORAL  INSTRUCTION   IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS    185 


MORAL  INSTRUCTION  IN  THE   PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS  OF  FRANCE 

GEORGE  E.  MYERS,  Ph.D. 

PRINCIPAL   OF   THE    MCKINLEY    MANUAL   TRAINING    SCHOOL, 
WASHINGTON,    D.  C. 

France  has  made  a  more  serious  conscious  effort 
than  any  other  great  nation  to  develop  character 
through  her  schools.  The  means  chosen  for  this  ptir- 
pose  is  direct  moral  instruction  on  a  secular  basis. 

In  1882,  a  law  was  passed  making  comptdsory  such 
moral  instruction  in  all  public  elementary  schools.  A 
body  of  eminent  educators  formulated  a  model  pro- 
gramme. Courses  in  morals  were  established  in  the 
normal  schools.  Text-books,  following  closely  the 
official  programme,  were  introduced  into  the  schools. 
Within  a  few  months,  moral  instruction  was  as  truly  a 
part  of  the  regular  school  work  as  reading  or  arithmetic, 
and  it  has  continued  to  occupy  this  prominent  place  in 
the  school  curriculum  ever  since. 

The  time  devoted  to  moral  instruction  in  the  primary 
school  is,  for  the  elementary  and  intermediate  courses 
(7  to  II  years),  one  hour  per  week,  and  for  the  superior 
course  (11  to  13  years),  one  and  one  half  hours  per 
week.  In  general,  this  time  is  divided  into  three  equal 
periods  and  apportioned  to  the  first  hour  of  alternate 
school  days. 

It  has  been  said  that  this  moral  instruction  rests  on 
a  secular  basis.  Duty  and  conscience  are  the  key- 
words. The  sanctions  of  morality  are  to  be  foim.d  in 
duty  not  in  religion.  Duties  toward  God  are  included 
in  the  official  programme  but  nothing  concerning  the 
attributes  or  nature  of  God,  and  of  course  no  church 
creeds  or  catechisms,  are  to  be  taught.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  duties  to  God  are  given  but  little  space  in 


i86     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

the  text-books  and  are  passed  over  lightly  if  taught 
at  all. 

The  Official  Programme.  The  teacher  at  work  is 
provided  with  elaborate  instructions  and  suggestions 
concerning  the  task  of  moral  instruction.  He  is  given 
a  carefully  outlined  course  of  study,  or  "official  pro- 
gramme, "  and  his  pupils  are,  in  general,  provided  with 
text-books  prepared  according  to  this  official  pro- 
gramme. There  are  in  reality  three  such  programmes, 
one  for  each  division  of  the  primary  school. 

The  elementary  programme  (ages  7  to  9)  is  chiefly 
suggestive.  The  teacher  is  to  engage  in  familiar  con- 
versations with  the  pupils  and  to  read  to  them  moral 
examples,  precepts,  parables,  and  fables ;  also  to  direct 
practical  exercises  tending  to  put  morality  into  action 
in  the  class  itself :  (i)  by  individual  observation  of  the 
pupils'  characters,  (2)  by  intelligent  application  of 
school  discipline,  (3)  by  incessant  appeal  to  the  feelings 
and  the  moral  judgment  of  the  child,  (4)  by  correcting 
false  notions,  superstitions,  prejudices,  etc.,  (5)  by 
having  children  present,  from  their  own  observation, 
illustrations  of  such  vices  as  drunkenness,  idleness, 
and  cruelty,  (6)  by  having  them  contemplate  grand 
scenes  of  nature  in  order  to  arouse  the  religious  feeling 
and  the  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  universal  order. 

The  programme  for  the  intermediate  classes  (ages 
9  to  11)  —  the  heart  of  the  entire  course  —  is  more  defi- 
nite. It  treats  of:  (i)  The  child  in  the  family  — 
duties  towards  the  parents,  grandparents,  brothers, 
sisters,  and  servants.  (2)  The  child  in  the  school  — 
docility,  assiduity,  work,  duties  towards  teacher  and 
fellow  pupils.  (3)  La  patrie — duties  towards  la  patrie 
and  society.  (4)  Self  —  duties  towards  the  body: 
sobriety,  cleanliness,  and  temperance;  duties  towards 
exterior  goods:  economy,  avoidance  of  debt, 
work;    duties  towards  the  soul:    veracity,   sincerity, 


MORAL   INSTRUCTION   IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS    187 

personal  dignity,  self-respect,  modesty.  (5)  Duties 
towards  other  men:  justice,  charity,  kindness,  fra- 
ternity. (6)  Duties  towards  God:  reverence,  obedi- 
ence to  God's  laws  as  revealed  in  conscience  and 
reason. 

The  superior  programme  (ages  11  to  13),  presents 
a  more  comprehensive  treatment  of  duties  towards  the 
family,  society,  and  la  patrie. 

This  programme  of  moral  instruction  as  a  whole  is, 
perhaps,  as  comprehensive  and  rich  as  can  be  found 
anywhere.  Moreover,  it  contains  little  that  is  not  im- 
portant for  the  moral  life.  It  is  a  careful  and  complete 
outline  of  moral  duties. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  it  is  an  outline  of 
moral  duties  rather  than  a  course  of  study  suited  to  chil- 
dren of  public  school  age.  The  men  who  arranged  the 
programme  seem  to  have  been  thinking  of  moral  citi- 
zens, not  of  moral  children  at  each  stage  of  their  devel- 
opment. It  is  as  if,  knowing  from  their  own  experi- 
ence and  observation  what  qualities  are  desirable  in 
adults,  they  had  said:  "Go  to;  let  us  arrange  a  pro- 
gramme in  moral  instruction  which  emphasizes  all 
these  qualities,  and,  when  our  children  are  grown,  we 
shall  have  noble  citizens."  Whether  the  thing  to  be 
taught  is  related  to  the  life  of  the  child  is  of  little  con- 
sequence, so  long  as  it  is  likely  to  be  important  to  the 
man. 

Again,  there  is  lack  of  harmony  between  the  most 
fundamental  parts  of  this  course  of  study  —  those  deal- 
ing with  duties  to  self  —  and  the  organization  and  man- 
agement of  French  primary  schools.  France  affords 
the  anomaly  of  a  programme  of  moral  instruction 
suited  to  a  republic,  and  a  school  organization  adapted 
to  an  absolute  monarchy.  The  teacher  is  expected  to 
instruct  his  pupils  in  initiative  and  self-reliance,  but  the 
strongly  centralized  school  system  forbids  him  to  exer- 


1 88     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

cise  either  of  these  admirable  qualities.  And  the  dis- 
cipline generally  maintained  prevents  pupils  from  put- 
ting this  teaching  into  practice.  Personal  dignity  and 
self-respect  are  to  be  taught,  but  neither  is  possible  in 
any  high  degree  to  the  teacher,  whose  duties  are  so 
minutely  prescribed  that  the  Minister  of  Education  at 
Paris  can  tell  exactly  what  is  being  done  at  any  given 
instant  in  every  school  in  France.  Both  are  hostile  to 
the  dominant  spirit  of  French  life — militarism. 

Text-books.  The  text-books  on  morals,  for  the 
most  part,  follow  the  official  programme  very  closely. 
Their  differences  are  in  method  of  presentation,  one 
using  many  quotations  from  literature  by  way  of  il- 
lustration, another  emphasizing  clear-cut  definitions, 
another  giving  frequent  r^sum^,  etc.  Some  authors 
grade  their  books  according  to  the  divisions  of  the  pri- 
mary school.  Others  combine  in  one  book  and  with 
the  same  treatment  lessons  for  the  elementary  and 
intermediate,  and  still  others  for  the  intermediate  and 
higher  divisions.  One  writer  has  different  books  for 
teacher  and  pupil,  the  teacher's  book  including  what 
is  contained  in  the  pupil's,  and,  in  addition,  two  brief 
plans  for  handling  the  lessons  (one  for  the  intermediate, 
the  other  for  the  superior  course),  and  subjects  for 
written  exercises.  Since  the  elementary  and  higher 
programmes  do  not  furnish  as  definite  outlines  or  as 
rich  fields  for  writers  of  text-books  as  the  intermediate, 
there  are  more  text-books  for  the  intermediate  course 
and  many  of  those  for  the  other  courses  follow  the  inter- 
mediate outline. 

But  let  us  examine  one  of  these  books  more  care- 
fully. One  of  the  most  extensively  used  bears  the  title : 
"  The  First  Year  of  Moral  and  Civic  Instruction. ' '  This 
reached  its  48th  edition  in  1904,  25  editions  having 
appeared  since  1890.  In  1889  it  was  mentioned  first  in 
the  list  of  text-books  most  in  use  —  a  rank  which  it  ap- 


MORAL   INSTRUCTION   IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS    189 

pears  still  to  hold.  It  is  intended  for  children  of  inter- 
mediate grade,  i.  e.,  from  9  to  11  years  old.  The  book 
is  divided  into  thirteen  chapters  as  follows : 

(  i)  Duties  of  the  child  in  the  family,  in  the  school, 
and  in  apprenticeship. 

(2)  Duties  towards  self. 

(3)  Duties  towards  society. 

(  4)  Work,  order.  Association,  etc. 

(  5)  Employers,   and  employed. 

(6)  The  farmer. 

(7)  The  merchant. 

(  8)  Service  of  the  state. 

(  9)  The  head  of  the  family. 

(10)  Civil  rights. 

(11)  The  state. 

(12)  The  administration. 

(13)  Rights  and  duties  of  citizens. 

Each  chapter  consists  of  a  number  of  moral,  hy- 
gienic, or  business  precepts  and  definitions,  a  r^sum^, 
a  group  of  references  to  the  supplement  which  will  be 
described  more  fully  later,  a  few  subjects  for  pupils' 
compositions  and  several  pages  of  little  stories,  ap- 
parently written  by  the  author,  illustrating  the  teach- 
ings of  the  chapter.  There  are  also  questions  at  the 
bottom  of  the  page,  numbered  to  correspond  with  the 
various  duties  emphasized  on  that  page.  An  occasional 
quotation  from  the  laws  of  France  appears  among  the 
precepts.  Specimen  pages  and  sections  will  show  the 
character  of  the  book  better  than  any  description  of  it. 
Here  is  the  first  page,  which  treats  of  duties  in  the 
family : 

"  (i)  You  ought  to  love  your  parents,  who  love 
you,  nurture  you,  and  educate  you." 

(2)  You  ought  to  respect  them.  Do  not  be  fa- 
miliar with  them,  as  you  are  with  yotir  companions. 

(3)  You   ought   to   obey   them.     Do   not   dispute 


I90     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

with  them.     One  disputes  with  equals  not  with  his 
father  and  mother. 

(4)  The  law  makes  sacred  the  authority  of  parents 
in  giving  them  the  right  to  punish.  (Here  follows 
a  quotation  from  the  laws  of  the  Republic,  bearing 
on  the  authority  of  parents  over  their  children.) 

(5)  You  ought  to  be  grateful  to  your  parents 
for  all  the  care  which  they  give  you. " 

At  the  bottom  of  this  page  are  the  following  ques- 
tions : 

"(i),  (2),  (3),  State  the  principal  duties  of  children 
towards  their  parents. 

(4)  How  does  the  law  make  sacred  the  authority 
of  parents  over  their  children? 

(5)  Why  ought  you  to  be  grateful  to  your  parents  ?  ' ' 
At  the  close  of  the  first  chapter  is  the  following  re- 

sum^  which  the  pupil  is  expected  to  commit  to  mem- 
ory: 

"  (i)  I  shall  love  my  father  and  mother;  I  shall  re- 
spect and  obey  them. 

(2)  I  shall  be  grateful  to  them;  I  shall  render  to 
them  in  old  age  the  care  they  have  given  me, 

(3)  I  shall  love  all  the  members  of  my  family, 

(4)  I  shall  do  honor  to  the  name  I  bear, 

(5)  At  school,  I  shall  work  with  all  my  might;  I 
shall  put  all  my  attention  and  all  my  intelligence  into 
everything  that  I  do, 

(6)  I  shall  love  my  teacher;  I  shall  obey  him,  re- 
spect him,  and  be  grateful  to  him. 

(7)  I  shall  form  good  habits,  and  shall  choose  well 
my  friends;  I  shall  avoid  evil  companions. 

(8)  During  my  period  of  apprenticeship,  I  shall 
work  hard,  and  be  teachable  and  honest.  I  shall  care- 
fully guard  the  good  habits  of  my  childhood."     • 

Notice  that  this  resume,  as  are  also  some  of  the 
others,  is  cast  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  resolutions  or 
pledges. 


MORAL   INSTRUCTION   IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS    191 

The  chapter  on  "The  merchant"  treats  of  book- 
keeping, bankruptcy,  notes,  drafts,  checks,  protesting 
of  notes,  failure,  liquidation,  and  gives  the  9  to  1 1 -year- 
old  prospective  merchant  such  indefinite  advice  as 
"Do  not  make  hazardous  investments,"  and  "Do  not 
buy  too  much  merchandise."  In  the  chapter  on 
" The  head  of  the  family"  we  find  the  question  "  What 
is  marriage?"  answered  by  the  enlightening  state- 
ment "Marriage  is  the  most  serious  act  of  one's  life." 

Thirty  pages  of  the  book  are  occupied  by  a  supple- 
ment which  gives  additional  information  concerning 
terms  used  in  the  lessons,  usually  with  quotations  from 
the  laws.  A  few  such  terms  are :  "  commercial  associ- 
ations,"  "code,"  "municipal  council,"  "general  coun- 
cil, "  "contracts  of  marriage, "  "  desertions, "  "  schools," 
' '  expropriation, "  "  electoral  list , ' '  ' '  pensions, ' '  '  'posts, ' ' 
"military  service,"  "vagabondage."  At  the  end  of 
the  chapter  are  given  a  few  references  to  this  supple- 
ment, which  the  pupil  is  expected  to  look  up  and  copy. 

What  shall  be  said  concerning  this  text-book  as  a 
whole  ?  It  contains  a  large  number  of  valuable  moral 
precepts  and  definitions,  which  the  pupils  are  required 
to  commit  to  memory.  There  can  be  no  question  that 
it  fixes  in  the  child's  mind,  temporarily  at  least,  many 
statements  of  moral  duties,  distinctions,  and  resolutions. 
The  composition  exercises  and  especially  the  abundant 
illustrative  material  must  serve  to  give  this  memory- 
stock  greater  permanence  and  meaning.  But  the  mere 
memorizing  of  precepts,  definitions,  and  resolutions 
does  not  constitute  moral  training.  These  give  at  best 
only  knowledge  about  morality.  Unless  they  actually 
reach  the  understanding  of  the  child  they  do  not  even 
give  this.  And  knowledge  about  duty  and  about  moral 
distinctions  does  not  necessarily  result  in  moral  life  and 
conduct.  The  entire  book  has  a  mechanical,  precept, 
question-and-answer  air  about  it  which  robs  it  of  vi- 


192     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

tality.  Many  of  its  teachings  are  far  beyond  children 
9  to  1 1  years  old ;  as,  e.  g.,  those  about  the  head  of  the 
family  and  marriage.  Many  others  have  no  moral 
significance  whatever,  as  some  of  those  in  the  chapter 
on  the  merchant ;  others  never  will  have  interest,  ex- 
cept for  the  few  who  engage  in  particular  occupations. 
Much  of  its  illustrative  material  is  fanciful,  inaccurate, 
trivial.  No  attention  is  paid  to  the  stages  of  child  de- 
velopment. The  author  appears  to  have  looked  over 
society  and  picked  out  those  qualities  in  children  and 
adults  which  seemed  to  him  desirable,  and,  without 
asking  whence  they  came  or  how  they  are  most  natu- 
rally developed,  to  have  included  them  in  his  book 
to  be  taught  in  the  school. 

Such  is  one  of  the  most  widely  used  French  text- 
books on  morals  —  a  book  which  has  gone  through 
more  editions  than  any  other  of  the  score  or  so  ex- 
amined. Altogether  the  books  examined  are  an  un- 
satisfactory lot,  of  which  the  best  appear  to  be  little 
used  and  the  worst  much  used.  Probably  the  most 
valuable  feature  of  them  is  the  use  of  illustrative  se- 
lections from  standard  literature.  But  this  feature  is 
not  used  at  all  in  some,  and  only  in  a  limited  and  im- 
perfect way  in  any  of  them.  The  one  thing  common  to 
all  is  an  abundance  of  moral  precepts  and  definitions. 

The  Instruction  —  How  Given.  But  how  do  teach- 
ers actually  use  the  programme  and  text-books  ?  How 
are  the  lessons  presented?  This,  of  course,  varies 
greatly  with  different  teachers.  M.  Pierre,  Director 
of  the  Normal  School  at  St.  Cloud,  outlines  the  method 
usually  followed:  " The  plan  of  the  lesson  is  written  in 
advance  on  the  board.  The  lesson  is  developed  and 
explained.  A  resume  is  dictated.  A  selection  il- 
lustrating the  resume  is  read.  A  maxim  is  given  in 
conclusion."  But  these  are  only  formal  steps,  im- 
touched  by  the  personality  of  the  teacher.     Is  the 


MORAL   INSTRUCTION   IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS    193 

teaching  perfunctory  and  mechanical,  or  is  it  vital 
and  stimulating? 

A  large  number  of  primary  inspector's  reports 
quoted  by  Lichtenberger,  in  1889,  indicate  that  at 
that  time  the  great  majority  of  the  moral  teaching  was 
perfunctory  and  mechanical.  Said  one  inspector: 
"The  teachers  lack  capacity  and  conviction."  Said 
another:  "The  lessons  too  much  resemble  ordinary 
lessons;  they  lack  the  emphasis  of  conviction  and 
sincerity  which  belongs  to  true  moral  instruction." 
One  inspector  made  the  statement  that  moral  instruc- 
tion did  not  exist  in  the  schools  under  his  inspection, 
and  then  added  significantly  that  he  heard  a  teacher 
trying  to  explain  to  seven  or  eight-year-old  girls  the 
distinction  between  soul  and  body.  According  to  most 
reports,  however,  a  few  teachers  under  each  inspector 
were  able  to  give  the  moral  instruction  in  an  efficient 
manner. 

M.  Pelisson,  writing  of  the  situation  in  1900,  quotes 
much  more  favorably  from  several  inspectors.  One 
says:  "Of  all  the  different  subjects  taught  in  the 
schools  la  morale  has,  in  the  past  ten  years,  made 
more  serious  progress  and  given  better  results  than  any 
other."  Undoubtedly  there  has  been  great  improve- 
ment since  the  very  unfavorable  reports  of  1889.  But 
an  American  professor  of  education,  after  a  recent 
careful  inspection  of  French  primary  schools,  charac- 
terized their  moral  instruction  as  "absolutely  wooden. " 

Results.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  and  difficult 
to  estimate  the  results  of  such  a  course  of  instruction 
as  the  one  we  have  been  considering.  One  can  say, 
without  hesitation,  however,  that  it  has  not  accom- 
plished what  its  friends  expected  of  it.  This  expec- 
tation is  well  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  official 
programme.  Speaking  of  the  teacher,  it  says :  "He  is 
to  strengthen,  to  root  into  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  for 


194     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

all  their  lives,  through  daily  practice,  those  essential 
notions  of  morality  common  to  all  civilized  men.  He 
should  aim  to  make  all  the  children  serve  an  effective 
apprenticeship  to  a  moral  life.  Later  in  life  they  will, 
perhaps,  become  separated  by  dogmatic  opinion  but 
they  will  be  in  accord  in  having  the  aim  of  life  as  high 
as  possible;  in  having  the  same  horror  for  what  is 
base  and  vile,  the  same  delicacy  in  the  appreciation 
of  duty,  in  aspiring  to  moral  perfection,  whatever 
effort  it  may  cost,  in  feeling  united  to  that  fealty 
to  the  good,  the  beautiful,  the  true,  which  is  also  a  form, 
and  not  the  least  pure,  of  the  religious  sentiment." 

Buisson,  in  1898,  after  years  of  service  as  director 
of  primary  education,  writes  almost  passionately  of 
the  limitations  of  the  school  in  the  work  of  moral 
training.  Cloudesley  Brereton,  of  England,  vice- 
president  of  the  international  jury  on  primary  educa- 
tion, Paris  Exposition,  after  having  made  extended 
personal  observations  of  primary  education  in  France, 
speaks  of  "a  considerable  gain"  having  resulted  from 
the  change  of  education  from  a  Catholic  to  an  ethical 
foundation.  He  says  also:  "During  my  visit  in  the 
provinces  I  was  present  at  a  certain  number  of  moral 
lessons,  and  was  agreeably  surprised  by  the  interest 
the  children  generally  took  in  them.  Whenever  the 
teaching  was  practical,  and  bore  on  the  daily  life  and 
ways  of  the  school,  or  treated  of  some  subject  well 
within  the  ken  of  the  children,  it  was  easy  to  see  that 
the  teacher  had  the  ear  of  his  audience.  But  if  an 
abstruse  cas  du  conscience  was  posed  which  required 
some  subtlety  to  disentangle,  or  the  teacher  was  too  anx- 
ious to  give  a  philosophic  or  dogmatic  air  to  his  teaching 
by  entrenching  himself  behind  a  barbed  wire  fence  of 
maxims  and  formulas,  it  was  evident  that  even  those 
children  who  attempted  to  follow  him,  painfully  re- 
peated by  rote  what  he  laid  down,  but  their  hearts  were 


MORAL   INSTRUCTION   IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS    195 

far  from  him."  Bracq  quotes  several  school  in- 
spectors and  other  French  writers  as  speaking  of  the 
resiilts  favorably.  Their  statements,  however,  are  all 
in  general  terms  such  as  "manifest  progress, "  "results 
more  and  more  satisfactory,"  "admirable  results," 
etc.  While  Bracq  himself  thinks  that  these  and  other 
similar  investigations  show  "tangible  results  of  their 
work,"  he  admits  that  "Honest  teachers  on  both 
sides  have  not  failed  to  express  their  disappointment 
at  the  results  of  their  work." 

To  be  sure  the  international  jury  on  primary  educa- 
tion of  the  Paris  Exposition  awarded  France,  by  unani- 
mous vote,  a  grand  prize  for  her  system  of  moral 
education.  But  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the 
award  was  made  on  the  appearance  of  the  machine 
rather  than  on  its  product  —  because  France  was  mak- 
ing an  extensive  direct  effort  for  moral  training,  not 
because  there  was  evidence  of  the  effort's  success. 

Some  light  is  shed  on  the  question  of  results  by  an 
investigation  recently  made.  More  than  3,000  primary 
school-children  were  asked  to  describe  the  "  most  beauti- 
ful act  they  had  ever  seen. "  About  half  recoimted  not 
an  act  which  they  had  actually  seen,  but  one  of  which 
they  had  read  in  the  illustrative  material  of  their  moral 
instruction  books.  For  the  most  part  they  reported 
acts  of  heroism  and  self-sacrifice,  and  the  heroes  and 
heroines  were  those  of  the  books.  The  test  indicates 
that  at  least  the  most  striking  and  dramatic  parts  of 
the  stories  become  so  identified  with  the  child's  own 
experience  that  he  does  not  know  the  one  from  the 
other.  The  assumption  is  likely  to  follow  that  the 
child's  appreciation  of  all  moral  acts  has  been  intensi- 
fied in  like  manner  by  his  moral  instruction.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  common  every-day  duties 
are  less  dramatic,  less  impressive  than  the  heroism  and 
self-sacrifice  of  the  stories. 


196     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

The  "  Book  of  Gold  of  the  Schools  "  is  cited  by  some 
writers  as  evidence  of  the  good  results  of  moral  instruc- 
tion. This  is  an  immense  manuscript  volume  con- 
taining brief  accounts  of  acts  of  justice,  honesty,  and 
heroism  observed  in  French  school  children.  The 
book  formed  a  part  of  the  educational  exhibit  in  1900. 
But  one  is  hardly  justified  in  assuming  that  these  acts 
are  the  result  of  the  school  study  of  morality. 

When  all  is  said,  one  must  acknowledge  disap- 
pointment that  the  results  of  so  great  an  effort  are  not 
more  obvious.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that 
since  1882,  when  moral  instruction  was  introduced  into 
the  schools,  there  has  been  marked  educational  pro- 
gress in  many  directions,  such  as  better  preparation 
of  teachers,  introduction  of  manual  training,  etc., 
which  have  no  doubt  contributed  much  to  moral  im- 
provement through  the  school. 

Conclusions.  From  the  foregoing  study  the  following 
conclusions  seem  to  be  justified  concerning  moral  in- 
struction in  French  public  primary  schools. 

(i)  That  the  official  programme  comprises  an  ad- 
mirably comprehensive  list  of  moral  duties. 

(2)  That  this  programme  fails  to  take  account  of 
the  stages  of  child  development. 

(3)  That  it  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  organization 
and  management  of  the  schools. 

(4)  That  it  is  poorly  interpreted  and  applied  by  the 
text-books  most  in  use. 

(5)  That  most  teachers  lack  the  sympathy  and  con- 
viction which  alone  make  moral  instruction  vital. 

(6)  That  the  whole  effort  places  too  great  emphasis 
on  the  school  as  an  educational  factor. 

(7)  That  it  tends  to  treat  morality  as  a  veneer  to 
be  put  on  rather  than  as  a  life  to  be  developed.  (One 
text-book  describes  la  morale  as  the  science  of  good 
manners.) 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS   OF   GERMANY     197 

(8)  That  the  results,  so  far  as  they  can  be  estimated, 
appear  pitiably  insignificant  when  compared  with  the 
magnitude  of  machinery  and  effort  which  produced 
them. 

But  one  must  give  France  the  credit  for  having  made 
a  beginning  in  the  face  of  tremendous  obstacles.  More- 
over, one  must  acknowledge  that  much  light  has  been 
shed  on  the  problem  of  moral  instruction.  Thousands 
of  French  teachers  have  been  forced  to  think  more  or 
less  seriously  about  it.  Their  thought  and  their  experi- 
ence are  gradually  making  clear  the  weaknesses  of  the 
methods  employed  and  focusing  attention  upon  the 
teacher  as  the  fundamental  factor  in  the  task  before 
them. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  RELIGION  AND  MORALS 
IN  THE  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS  OF  GERMANY 

AMOS  WILLIAMS  PATTEN,  D.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  BIBLICAL  LITERATURE  IN  NORTHWESTERN  UNIVERSITY, 
EVANSTON,    ILL.    * 

In  the  earliest  schools  in  Germany  the  individual  is 
regarded  not  merely  as  a  being  whose  intellectual  fac- 
ulties are  to  be  brought  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency, 
but  also  as  a  member  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  sustaining 
relations  to  the  realm  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth. 
The  schools  were,  indeed,  dominated  by  the  church, 
being  considered,  virtually,  as  seminaria  ecclesice. 
This  influence  has  continued  to  the  present.  As 
early  as  1520  Luther  declared  that  for  higher  and 
lower  schools  the  Scriptures,  and  especially  the  Gos- 
pels,   were    absolutely    indispensable.     The    earliest 

*  The  sources  for  this  study  are: — personal  inspection  of  leading 
German  Gymnasia;  published  material  of  the  Prussian  Cultus 
Ministerium;  programs  of  curricula  in  various  schools;  text-books 
used  in  the  several  courses  of  instruction  in  "Religion;"  inter- 
views with  leading  German  educators. 


198     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

plan  of  instruction  for  a  German  school  of  which 
we  have  knowledge  is  that  of  Eisleben,  in  1525,  where 
Sunday  was  devoted  to  the  interest  of  religion.  In 
1533  the  schedule  for  the  Wittenberg  school  reads: 
"One  day,  Wednesday  or  Saturday,  is  for  religious  in- 
struction. The  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Commandments 
and  the  Creed  shall  be  committed  to  memory  and 
explained  simply  and  clearly.  Also  a  few  Psalms 
shall  be  learned  and  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  or  a  let- 
ter to  Timothy,  or  the  first  letter  of  John,  or  the  Prov- 
erbs of  Solomon,  shall  be  grammatically  expounded." 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  study 
of  doctrine  appears  in  the  curriculum,  a  change  which 
is  not  an  improvement  on  the  simple  emphasis  placed 
upon  the  Scriptures.  For  more  than  two  hundred 
years  following  we  find  in  all  the  German  schools  this 
plan  of  religion  steadily  followed.  In  the  modem 
German  schools  religious  culture  is  well  to  the  fore. 
In  the  "Lehrplan, "  or  educational  program  of  the 
secondary  schools  in  1824  the  cultus  minister  gives 
the  following  instructions : ' '  Especially  must  the  teacher 
of  religious  instruction  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
he  is,  in  behalf  of  the  state,  to  educate  his  pupils  to 
become  true  Christians ;  not  to  teach  a  kind  of  ethereal 
morality  robbed  of  all  deep  significance,  but  he  must 
develop  a  God-fearing  moral  sentiment,  which  rests 
upon  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  on  the  well-founded 
knowledge  of  the  truths  of  the  Christian  redemption. " 
The  importance  of  the  study  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion in  the  gymnasium  curriculum  is  clearly  em- 
phasized by  Nagelsbach  at  a  time  when  a  great  dis- 
cussion was  going  on  among  German  educators  as 
to  the  relation  of  classical  studies  to  Christian  cul- 
ture. Nagelsbach  recognized  the  necessity  of  classic- 
al culture,  "else  bursts  a  storm  of  barbarism  upon 
us. "     He  also  recognized  the  necessity  of  a  knowledge 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS   OF   GERMANY     199 

of  the  gospel,  "else  hopeless  heathenism  overwhelms 
us."*  The  school  schedules  for  1903  and  1907  are 
based  upon  the  same  general  ideas.  The  "Plans  for 
instruction  for  the  higher  schools  in  Prussia,"  pub- 
lished by  the  minister  of  education  distinctly  state 
that  religion  is  an  indispensable  element  in  the  educa- 
tion and  character  of  every  citizen  and  that  by  means 
of  instruction  in  the  word  of  God  there  is  to  be  built 
up  in  the  pupil  a  symmetrical  character  which  will 
manifest  itself  by  confession  and  by  conduct,  espe- 
cially through  a  lively  interest  in  the  common  church 
life,  and  also  by  exerting  a  wholesome  influence  upon 
social  life  in  general. 

In  order  to  carry  out  this  plan  it  follows  that  the 
teachers  must  be  qualified  to  teach  "religion."  The 
candidate  for  a  position  as  teacher  must  be  examined 
in  "divinity"  and  must  satisfy  the  commission  as  to 
his  knowledge  of  the  history,  morals,  and  doctrinal 
tenets  of  Christianity.  The  sectarian  difficulty  is 
carefully  considered.  In  Protestant  schools  the  in- 
structor in  religion  is  usually  a  layman.  In  Catholic 
schools  he  is  an  ecclesiastic.  In  mixed  schools,  where 
children  of  all  creeds  are  assembled,  the  Catholic,  the 
Protestant,  and  the  Jewish  Rabbi  instruct  their  own 
group  of  pupils  separately.  Where  the  number-  of 
Catholic  or  Jewish  pupils  in  the  several  schools  is  small 
sometimes  several  schools  unite  under  one  teacher  at 
a  central  school.  Thus  an  attempt  is  made  to  suit  the 
leading  religious  sects. 

The  instruction  in  religion  is  not  often  taught  by 
one  person.  In  the  Kaiser  Wilhelms  Real  Gymnasium 
in  Berlin,  in  1904,  this  work  was  divided  among  eight 
teachers.  In  the  Friedrich  Wilhelm  Gymnasium 
seven  men  are  assigned  to  "religion."  Sometimes 
one  cannot  fail  to  discover  that  the  work  is  irksome 

*  Paulsen:    Geschichte  des  gelehrten  Unterrichts,  ii,  323. 


200    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

to  the  teacher,  whose  interest  is  in  some  other  line. 
One  young  teacher  assured  me  that  his  line  was  lan- 
guages and  that  he  taught  religion  because  he  could 
not  avoid  it. 

The  ecclesiastical  authorities  —  the  consistories  for 
the  Protestant  schools  and  the  bishops  for  the  Catholic 
schools  —  must  concur  with  the  school  authorities  in 
the  appointment  of  those  who  give  instruction  in 
religion  in  the  schools.  The  consistories  and  the 
bishops  have,  likewise,  the  right  of  inspecting  this 
instruction,  by  themselves  or  by  their  delegates,  and 
of  addressing  to  the  provincial  board  any  remarks  they 
may  have  to  make  concerning  it.* 

Instructions  to  the  teachers  as  to  their  methods 
are  very  explicit.  Memory  material  is  to  be  limited 
to  that  which  is  essential  but  the  main  emphasis  must 
be  placed  upon  the  ethical  side.  Especially  are  the 
main  facts  of  redemption  and  of  Christian  duties  to 
be  brought  to  the  front.  The  Scriptures  are  declarer! 
to  be  the  center  of  the  religious  instruction  and  the 
teacher  is  to  strive  to  relate  the  Bible  to  the  inner  and 
the  outer  life  of  the  pupil.  In  the  lower  grades  the 
Bible  stories  have  the  first  place,  while  text,  hymn, 
and  catechism  are  to  be  grouped  about  these.  For  the 
middle  classes  the  catechism  and  the  full  knowledge  of 
hymn  and  text  must  be  emphasized,  but  the  chief  work 
of  this  grade  is  the  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testament.  Here  must  be 
presented  living  pictures  of  the  men  of  God  —  the 
patriarch,  the  prophet  and  the  apostle,  and  especially 
of  our  Lord,  with  a  deep  knowledge  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  For  the  highest  classes  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  Church  History  are  the  chief  subjects.  Here 
the  original  text,    Greek,   sometimes   may  be  used. 

*  Matthew  Arnold :  Higher  Schools  and  Universities  in  Ger- 
many. 


TEACHING  IN   SCHOOLS  OF   GERMANY     201 

Questions  of  Biblical  Introduction  must  be  limited 
to  the  most  necessary  items.  Critical  investigations 
do  not  belong  to  the  sphere  of  the  school,* 

From  time  to  time,  by  special  decrees,  the  religious 
life  of  the  schools  has  been  emphasized.  In  a  decree 
of  November  1854  the  general  superintendents  are 
reminded  of  the  duty  which  a  statute  of  1829  imposes 
upon  them  to  have  special  care  over  the  religion  and 
churchly  culture  of  the  higher  schools.  They  are  to 
have  special  oversight  of  the  religious  instruction  by 
visiting  the  classes,  and  examining  the  text-books, 
and  are  to  assure  themselves  whether  the  religious 
instruction  is  given  in  the  right  spirit  and  according 
to  evangelical  teaching.  They  are  to  notice  whether 
the  exercises  are  opened  and  closed  with  prayer. 
They  must  also  know  whether  the  institutions  stand 
in  definite  relation  with  the  church;  whether  the 
pupils  and  teachers  systematically  attend  church, 
take  part  in  the  liturgy,  etc.t  These  strict  regulations 
of  half  a  century  ago  are  not  carried  out  to-day  either 
in  the  Volksschulen  or  the  Gymnasien,  The  definite 
ecclesiastical  control  of  the  schools  is  much  weaker  than 
then.  In  but  one  class  did  I  observe  that  the  exer- 
cise was  opened  with  prayer,  though  the  "Schul  An- 
dacht, "  or  daily  devotional  exercise  of  the  entire 
school  is  still  observed.  Teachers  in  private  institu- 
tions are  required  to  conduct  prayers  and  to  say  grace 
at  the  meal. 

What  now  is  to  be  said  concerning  the  value  of  this 
system  of  instruction  in  religion  and  morals  which 
is  such  a  marked  feature  of  the  German  school  ? 

In  the  first  place  the  pupil  will  become  acquainted 
with  the  leading  personages,  facts,  events  and  teach- 
ings of  Scripture,     In  the  next  place  he  will  gain  some 

*  Lehrplane  or  Plans  of  Instruction  for  the  Gymnasia, 
t  Wiese.     Das  Hohere   Schulwesen. 


202     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

intelligent  idea  of  the  genius  and  spirit  of  the  religious 
organization  of  which  he  is  a  member,  its  basis  of  be- 
lief, the  course  of  its  history,  and  the  great  leaders  who 
have  played  the  most  important  part  in  his  civiliza- 
tion. In  the  third  place  he  will  have  stored  in  his 
memory  about  fifty  of  the  great  hymns  which  are  filled 
with  an  ardent  devotion  and  a  victorious  Christian 
life.  Finally,  in  many  instances  and  under  proper 
teachers,  the  German  pupil  will  be  stimulated  to  nobler 
living  and  thinking  as  the  biblical  masterpieces  and 
the  heroes  of  the  faith  are  daily  placed  before  him. 
Such  instruction  is,  further,  a  good  equipment  for  any 
young  person,  particularly  for  the  reason  that  it  will 
enable  him  to  interpret  sympathetically  the  literature 
of  his  country,  which  is  shot  through  with  biblical 
allusions.  It  cannot  be  but  that,  religiously,  the 
self -evidencing  power  of  the  truth  will  be  quietly  ab- 
sorbed by  him,  and  intellectually,  he  will  also  receive 
that  subtle  refining  of  the  nature  which  contact  with 
the  supremely  beautiful  literature  and  the  thrilling 
history  of  the  Bible  invariably  works. 

The  Germans  themselves  are  the  keenest  critics 
of  their  educational  system.  No  part  of  it  has  passed 
under  severer  scrutiny  than  the  program  for  moral  and 
religious  training.  Wiese,  in  his  "  Lebenserrinnerun- 
gen,"  writes  very  freely  of  certain  defects.  He  says: 
"A  gift  for  instructing  in  religion  is  not  common.  As 
a  rule  the  religious  instruction  is  isolated,  as  a  frag- 
ment of  foreign  knowledge  by  the  side  of  other  studies. 
It  is  only  in  the  higher  classes  that  it  assumes  a  scien- 
tific character.  An  instruction  that  warms  the  heart, 
siezes  upon  the  understanding  is  rare,  even  with 
teachers  who  are  in  earnest.  I  have  known  many 
teachers  of  upright  Christian  character;  few,  how- 
ever, had  made  their  Christian  lives  inwardly  free  and 
happy;   indeed,  many  in  their  pedagogy  made  out  of 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS   OF   GERMANY     203 

the  Gospel  a  hard  law.  Others  there  were  who  failed 
completely  in  pedagogical  tact  and  some  who,  without 
appearing  to  be  hypocrites,  fell  into  marked  error,  in 
that  what  they  held  as  Christianity  was  not  their  own, 
was  nothing  achieved  in  the  battle  of  life  and  with 
themselves,  but  something  of  outward  good  and  in- 
tention. Many  such  examples  are  at  hand.  One 
makes  of  the  reading  of  the  New  Testament  a  wonder- 
ful philological  excursion;  another  dictates  items 
from  church  history;  a  third  presents  orthodox  be- 
liefs ;  a  fourth  treats  the  general  philosophy  of  religion ; 
a  fifth  gives  dry  moralization ;  and  a  sixth  indulges  in 
sentimental  aesthetic  reflections."  At  another  time 
Wiese  further  writes:  "If  it  is  expected  that  religious 
instruction  should  lead  the  pupil  to  a  living  Chris- 
tianity and  give  him  a  moral  outfit  for  life,  we  must  ac- 
knowledge that  only  in  a  very  feeble  way  does  the 
school  accomplish  this  task.  Indeed,  often  a  negative 
influence  as  to  religion  is  the  result.  The  recitations 
are  often  the  most  tedious  and  their  influence  is  such 
that  to  many  religion  suffers  permanently.  It  is  not 
seldom  that  one  hears  such  confessions  as  this :  'That 
I  am  a  man  devoid  of  peace  and  have  lost  the  faith  of 
my  childhood  is  due  to  the  school  and  religious  in- 
struction.' "  He  further  quotes  Richard  Rothe  as 
saying :  "To  sum  up  —  it  can  easily  be  shown  that  the 
religious  instruction  injures  rather  than  advances 
piety."  * 

In  the  several  provinces  stated  meetings  of  teachers 
are  held  to  discuss  various  phases  of  the  school  life 
and  methods  of  work.  In  these  discussions  the  teach- 
ing of  religion  plays  a  prominent  part.  It  is  main- 
tained that  the  instruction  in  religion  is  along  tra- 
ditional lines    acceptable  to  the  state  church  but  not 

*  Wiese:  Der  evangelische  Religionsunterricht  im  Lehrplan 
der  hdheren  Schulen.     1890. 


304     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

in  harmony  with  modem  scholarship,  so  that  when 
the  student  enters  the  university  he  finds  that  much 
of  his  biblical  instruction  is  useless  lumber  which 
must  be  abandoned.  His  faith  receives  a  severe 
shock  for  which  he  is  utterly  unprepared.  It  is  also 
urged  that  the  teacher  is  often  assigned  to  teach 
"religion"  when,  perhaps,  his  own  personal  views  may 
be  entirely  out  of  sympathy  with  the  subject  matter ; 
yet  he  must  teach  what  the  state  prescribes.  This 
leads  to  intellectual  dishonesty.  The  teaching  is, 
consequently,  dry,  formal  and  lifeless.  It  is  objected, 
again,  that  were  the  Bible  the  only  material  taught 
there  would  be  no  cause  of  complaint,  but  that  the 
teaching  of  the  dogmas  and  doctrinal  controversies 
of  church  polemics  is  not  proper  matter  for  the  con- 
sideration of  youth.  It  is  also  asserted  that  the  pres- 
ent system  of  religious  instruction  is  contrary  to  so- 
cial and  national  unity  because  sectarian  instruction 
raises  up  walls  of  separation  between  the  pupils,  thus 
educating  narrow  bigots  instead  of  training  broad- 
minded  citizens.  A  protest  is  also  raised  against  re- 
taining the  local  pastor,  in  country  districts,  as  school 
inspector,  which  keeps  the  school  under  the  influence 
of  the  church.  Many  afhrm  that  there  should  be 
drawn  a  line  of  demarcation  between  school  instruc- 
tion and  the  church  instruction,  leaving  to  the  church 
all  calculated  to  prepare  the  pupil  for  confirmation 
and  to  the  school  the  Bible  as  literature  and  history. 
The  above  views  are  best  seen,  perhaps,  in  the  Pad- 
agogische  Zeitschrift  edited  by  Professor  Rein  of  Jena, 
where  a  symposium  of  leading  educators  is  given: 
"Religious  instruction  in  the  schools  has  not  kept 
pace  with  the  general  advance  of  pedagogical  science. 
The  selection  of  material  for  religious  instruction  is 
largely  influenced  by  tradition;  the  results  of  modem 
theological  science  are  not  utilized;    the  Augustinian 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS   OF   GERMANY     205 

scheme  of  the  history  of  redemption  is  maintained; 
there  is  an  over- valuing  of  historical  polemics;  nar- 
ratives from  the  Old  Testament,  which  are  of  little 
value  ethically  or  religiously  are  used;  there  is  an 
unsatisfactory  consideration  of  the  prophets,  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  and  church  history,  and  indifference 
towards  the  recent  studies  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  More- 
over, the  historical  material  is  repeated  every  year  or 
two  in  a  .way  that  kills  all  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
pupil,  so  that  he  must  learn  the  same  history  several 
times.  Religious  instruction  is  split  into  too  many 
subordinate  parts  —  catechism,  pericopes,  church 
history,  hymns,  dogmatics,  etc.  Further,  too  much 
stress  is  placed  on  abstract  catechism  material,  which 
is  given  too  early  and  is  treated  without  the  historical 
material  to  explain  it.  It  is  suggested  that  the  great 
work  is  not  merely  to  convey  so  much  Bible  knowl- 
edge and  catechetical  instruction  but  to  cultivate  a 
religious  interest  by  introducing  the  child  to  the  his- 
tory of  great  religious  characters;  that  religious  in- 
struction must  be  freed  from  the  pressure  of  the  church 
and  the  bureaucracy,  and  that  local  church  super- 
vision should  be  abolished;  that  limits  should  be 
drawn  between  the  religious  instruction  of  the  school 
and  that  of  the  church ;  that  the  school  and  the  home 
must  work  hand  in  hand.  It  is  further  suggested, 
in  the  same  symposium,  that  the  teaching  of  creed 
statements  in  any  other  than  the  historical  method 
should  not  be  thought  of,  because  the  pupil  tends 
to  accept  the  faith  of  the  teacher;  that  the  teacher 
should  give  only  what  is  of  general  acceptance.  There 
should  be  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  no  pressure  on 
the  conscience  of  the  pupil.  No  teacher  of  mature 
age  who  has  been  theologically  and  philosophically 
trained  should  take  up  the  work  of  religious  instruc- 
tion except  volimtarily.     The  work  of  the  pupil  in 


2o6     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

religious  instruction  should  not  appear  in  his  school 
reports,  nor  should  his  failure  in  this  work  be  a  bar 
to  his  advancement  or  be  noted  in  his  "  abiturienten- 
axamen"  or  final  examination.  It  is  further  stated 
that  the  failure  of  religious  instruction  in  the  higher 
schools  is  because  the  instruction  is  too  little  regarded 
as  the  training  of  the  heart  (Gesinnungsunterricht), 
the  training  of  the  disposition  and  the  will,  as  char- 
acter building,  and  too  much  as  an  abstract  theoretical 
and  philosophical  discipline. 

The  recent  "Babel  und  Bibel"  discussion  stirred 
up  by  the  lectures  of  Professor  Friedrich  Delitzsch  led 
to  the  inquiry  on  the  part  of  many  teachers  as  to  the 
value  of  the  Old  Testament  instruction  in  the  schools. 
Outside  of  the  four  hundred  articles  called  forth  as 
replies  by  this  discussion  are  many  papers  bearing  on 
the  relative  value  of  the  Old  Testament  from  the  stand- 
point of  pedagogy.  Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  state 
that  instruction  in  the  Old  Testament  is  injurious  to 
the  pupils  religiously  and  morally  and  to  treat  the 
Old  Testament  traditions  as  divine  truth  is  the  "  crux  " 
for  the  teacher  of  religion.  At  a  meeting  of  the  teach- 
ers of  the  higher  schools  in  Silesia,  December,  1903, 
Oberlehrer  Dr.  Schmidt  of  Breslau  set  forth  very 
clearly  that  there  was  widespread  a  superficial  and 
mistaken  view  of  the  Old  Testament  which  showed 
a  radically  defective  knowledge  of  the  history  of  re- 
ligion and  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  religion 
of  Israel,  in  particular.  He  concluded  with  the  state- 
ment that  the  Old  Testament,  on  the  ground  of  peda- 
gogical value  cannot  be  excluded  from  religious  in- 
struction.* 

As  already  indicated  there  is  evidently  a  wide- 
spread stir  in  Germany  in  pedagogical  circles  con- 
cerning the  matter  of  religion  in  the  schools.     Inter- 

*  Zeitschrift  fiir  den  evangelischen   Unterricht.     July,    1903. 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS  OF   GERMANY     207 

views  with  leading  university  professors,  particularly 
Hamack,  Pfleiderer,  Paulsen  and  Rein,  and  with 
gymnasial  teachers  only  confirmed  the  conviction  I 
had  reached  through  the  reading  of  the  pedagogical 
journals  and  personal  inspection  of  the  schools,  that 
there  is  need  of  a  decided  reform  in  the  matter  and 
method  of  religious  instruction.  The  university  mam- 
tains  that  the  secondary  schools  do  not  keep  abreast 
of  the  modem  spirit.  One  would  suppose  that  since 
the  teachers  of  these  schools  are  the  product  of  the 
universities  they  would  teach  in  accord  with  univer- 
sity ideals;  but  here  comes  in  the  "consistory"  and 
the  bishop,  and  the  teacher  is  held  to  churchly  ideals 
of  religious  instruction. 

Professor  Paulsen  of  the  University  of  Berlin  oc- 
cupies so  important  a  position  in  the  pedagogical 
world  and  has  written  so  clearly  on  the  various  aspects 
of  this  question  that  I  must  give  at  some  length  his 
views  of  the  situation,  secured  from  a  personal  inter- 
view and  from  his  most  recent  published  utterance 
on  the  subject.*  "We  cannot  take  the  Bible  from 
the  German  child,  for  it  underlies  our  entire  litera- 
ture and  civilization;  it  is  very  necessary  that  some 
instruction  in  religion  and  morals  be  given  in  the 
schools,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  would  be  best 
to  continue  it  in  its  present  confessional  form.  To 
take  away  this  religious  instruction  would  be  a  serious 
deprivation,  as  far  as  history  and  life  are  concerned. 
The  Bible  should  be  taught  as  it  is,  history  and  litera- 
ture. Religion  and  the  Bible  are  so  thoroughly  in 
the  common  life  and  culture,  so  interpenetrate  art, 
history,  and  literature,  that  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  know  the  Bible.  The  religious  instruction  in 
the  school  is  a  work  of  the  Reformation.     The  ancient 

*  Das  moderne  Bildungswesen  in  "Die  kultur  der  Gegenwart. " 
Paul  Hunneberg.     Published  by  Teubner. 


ao8     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

church  had  no  instruction  of  the  youth  in  Christianity. 
The  later  church  laid  stress  on  '  pure  doctrine, '  and 
therefore  considered  the  strengthening  of  the  youth 
in  catechism  and  Scripture  a  necessary  exercise. 
This  old  Protestant  religious  instruction,  and  like- 
wise the  Catholic,  is  arranged  on  the  same  model  and 
supposes  three  things:  First,  that  the  schools  are 
in  the  first  instance  seminaria  ecdesics;  Second, 
that  the  teachers  belong  essentially  to  the  servants 
of  the  church;  and,  third,  that  the  confession  of  the 
church  is  the  expression  of  the  personal  faith  of  teach- 
ers and  parents.  None  of  these  three  suppositions 
avails  for  the  present.  The  schools  of  to-day  are  an 
institution  of  the  state  and  of  the  general  community. 
The  school  arrangements  are  no  longer,  as  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  a  part  of  the  church  order.  Further, 
the  teachers  have  ceased  to  be  servants  of  the  church ; 
they  form  a  profession,  with  a  professional  training 
obtained  in  state  institutions.  Finally,  the  con- 
fession is  no  longer  the  spontaneous  expression  of  the 
personal  conviction  of  all,  not  even  of  the  majority 
of  those  who  are  considered  as  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic or  Evangelical  church.  Teachers  and  parents 
stand  no  more  upon  the  platform  of  that  view  of  life 
and  the  world  on  which  grew  up  the  forms  of  the  con- 
fession of  the  sixteenth  century.  Particularly  the 
teachers  of  the  Volkschule  know  too  much  of  all  things 
which  have  come  to  pass  within  the  last  three  hundred 
years  in  the  sphere  of  natural  science  and  historical 
criticism,  to  take  the  same  view  of  Scripture  and  con- 
fession as  that  held  by  their  predecessors  of  two  or 
three  hundred  years  ago.  The  same  is  true  of  parents 
in  connection  with  whom  one  must  think  of  the  mass 
of  literature  influenced  by  the  social  democracy. 

"Only  the  religious  instruction  has  remained  essen- 
tially untouched  in  the  midst  of  all  these  changes.    It 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS   OF   GERMANY     209 

continues  to  treat  the  confession  in  all  its  parts  as  the 
most  certain  truth,  the  Scriptures  as  the  most  perfect 
means  of  proof,  the  fortifying  in  doctrine  as  the  goal. 
The  consequence  is  that  between  what  is  taught  and 
learned  and  believed  in  religious  instruction  and  the 
real  views  of  the  teachers  and  even  of  the  pupils  there 
is  a  yawning  chasm.  The  further  consequence  is  with 
a  few  a  real  hunger  of  conscience ;  with  many,  a  dulling 
of  the  sense  of  truth,  even  complete  indifference ;  per- 
haps with  still  more,  a  real  enmity  toward  the  church 
and  religion.  Haeckel's  '  Weltratsel'  which  has  found 
its  way  into  the  hands  of  teachers  and  parents  and, 
indeed,  into  the  hands  of  the  pupils  of  our  schools,  is 
sufficient  to  show  that  our  religious  instruction  con- 
tinues to  ignore  the  fact  that  we  are  living  not  in  the 
sixteenth,  but  in  the  twentieth  century. 

"It  is  not  possible  to  take  religious  instruction  out 
of  the  schools  as  has  been  largely  done  in  western 
countries  and  is  recommended  by  radical  politicians. 
Christianity  is  too  large  a  part  of  our  historical  life  to 
be  ignored  by  an  instruction  which  has  for  its  object 
the  introduction  to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  present.  In 
the  history  of  literature,  painting  and  sculpture,  archi- 
tecture, music,  philosophy,  science,  and  morals,  there 
is  not  a  point  large  enough  to  place  the  finger  on  un- 
touched by  traces  of  that  great  historical  life-power 
which  we  call  Christianity.  The  question  is  therefore 
concerning  a  change  in  the  form  of  religious  instruction, 
or,  rather,  concerning  the  completion  of  the  change 
for  which  preparation  has  already  been  made  —  the 
giving  up  of  confessional  dogmatic  instruction  and 
replacing  it  with  historical  exegesis,  by  the  *  Doc- 
trine of  Christ, '  as  it  is  called,  in  the  northern  sense 
of  religious  instruction.  We  must  treat  Christianity 
in  the  school  as  what  it  undoubtedly  is,  an  immeasur- 
ably important  part  of  our  historical  life,  and  cease 


2IO     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

to  treat  it  as  what  it  is  not,  at  least,  originally  is  not, 
and  what  it  can  for  us  no  longer  be  —  a  dogmatic  doc- 
trinal structure.  The  task  of  the  instructor  will  be 
no  other  than  to  make  the  youth  acquainted  with 
and  bring  them  into  living  connection  with  the  great 
movements  of  their  religious  life  as  they  are  presented 
especially  in  the  New  Testament  and  also  in  the  Old 
Testament.  The  more  unprejudiced  we  permit  things 
to  work  here,  as  in  other  literary  instruction,  the  more 
we  guard  ourselves  from  an  intrusive  pressure  a.nd 
also  from  undue  haste  and  consequent  dulling  of  in- 
terest, the  sooner  may  we  expect  to  exert  an  influence 
upon  the  religious  feeling  of  the  young.  What  avails 
here  and  always  is  not  formality  but  the  presence  of  a 
genuine  religious  life  in  concrete  personal  form.  " 

Some  of  the  criticism  arises  from  a  genuinely  hos- 
tile attitude  toward  the  church  on  the  part  of  the  so- 
cial democracy.  The  present  division  of  the  religious 
instruction  among  Evangelicals,  Catholics  and  Jews, 
and  the  necessity  for  separate  confessional  schools 
in  country  districts  meets  with  a  storm  of  opposition 
from  the  German  Liberals,  who  see  in  the  whole  ar- 
rangement a  needless  expense.  They  are  consequent- 
ly moving  for  what  they  call  "  Simultanschulen, " 
where  the  children  of  all  confessions  shall  assemble 
in  one  building  and  be  taught  by  the  same  teachers, 
as  in  large  cities. 

The  practical  consensus,  as  may  be  seen,  indicates 
what  lines  of  reform  are  being  pressed. 

1.  The  Bible  must  be  retained  in  the  schools,  as 
the  necessary  furniture  of  a  cultivated  mind.  It  is 
rare  that  one  hears  a  protest  against  its  presence  in 
the  schools. 

2.  Dogmatic  material,  such  as  the  catechism, 
and  the  church  creed,  should  be  eliminated  from  the 
school  and  given  over  to  the  church,  where  it  properly 
belongs. 


TEACHING   IN   SCHOOLS   OF   GERMANY     211 

3.  In  any  system  of  religious  instruction  every- 
thing depends  upon  the  personaHty  of  the  teacher, 
to  give  vitality  and  proper  spirit. 

4.  The  church  embarrasses  the  religious  teach- 
ing by  requiring  the  instructor  to  present  the  church 
tenets.  To  avoid  intellectual  dishonesty  this  should 
not  be  required. 

5.  We  are  not  to  expect  the  school  to  induct  the 
pupil  into  the  personal  religious  life.  The  church 
and  the  home  must  attend  to  this. 

6.  The  school  must  be  freed  from  politics.  State 
control  of  religious  instruction  in  the  interest  of  the 
state  church  is  an  evil. 

There  is  too  much  reverence  for  the  Bible  and  too 
deep  conviction  in  the  German  conception  of  culture, 
of  the  necessity  of  moral  and  religious  training,  to 
think  of  totally  eliminating  formal  teaching  in  this 
line  from  the  schools.  On  the  other  hand  a  wise 
movement  is  evident  which  aims  not  only  to  touch 
the  school  life  but  also  church  life  and  general 
society.  Professor  Baumgarten  of  the  University  of 
Kiel  has  recently  put  forth  a  book  in  which  he  deals 
strongly  with  the  entire  question,  pleading  for  the 
education  of  the  entire  people  in  religion  and  morals.  * 
As  to  the  school,  he  holds  that  there  should  be  a 
common  religious  instruction,  suited  to  all  confessions, 
while  the  confessional  instruction  might  well  be  left 
to  the  pastor.  When  confirmed  the  youth  is  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  an  adult,  and  now  must  depend 
upon  the  pulpit  to  instruct  him.  He  is  out  of  the 
Sunday  school,  for  the  German  Sunday  school  is 
largely  for  those  approaching  confirmation.  Pro- 
fessor Baumgarten  holds  that  the  German  pulpit, 
as  a  whole,  does  not  instruct  the  people  in  religion, 

*  Neue  Bahnen.     Der  Unterricht  in  der  Christlichen  Religion 
im  Geist  der  modemen  Theoligie.     Tubingen,   1903. 


212     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

but  seems  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  the  entire  age 
is  seething  with  movement  and  discussion.  The 
investigations  of  the  scientific  student  are  in  the 
meanwhile  going  constantly  forward;  socialistic  agi- 
tators are  attacking  the  Bible  and  the  church,  and 
new  grounds  of  apologetics  must  be  taken.  Without 
some  direction  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  of  religion, 
the  people  are  in  danger  of  being  confused  and  mis- 
led. While  there  is  so  much  need  of  a  vital  treat- 
ment of  religion  in  its  relation  to  citizenship  and  the 
home  and  society,  the  pulpit  goes  its  annual  round  of 
the  church  calendar,  giving  no  doubt  much  material 
that  is  edifying  for  the  pious  (erbaulich),  but  hardly 
up  to  the  level  of  its  great  opportunity  or  the  need 
of  the  hour.  Baumgarten  believes  that  the  question 
or  religious  and  moral  instruction  is  a  very  large  one 
and  that  it  embraces  not  only  the  school  folk  but  also 
the  people  generally,  the  working  classes,  etc.  (Unser 
Volk  in  alien  seinen  Schichten  und  Alterstufen  zu 
unterrichten  iiber  die  christliche  Religion.) 

German  educators  see  in  this  large  question  that 
which  makes  for  the  very  life  of  the  German  people, 
for  decay  of  morals  and  religion  cannot  be  atoned  for 
by  any  material  progress  however  brilliant,  for  moral 
decay  means  in  the  last  analysis  decay  of  the  physical 
and  the  intellectual  with  an  enfeeblement  and  shrivel- 
ling of  the  entire  national  life. 


ILLUSTRATED   MORAL   INSTRUCTION      213 


ILLUSTRATED    MORAL    INSTRUCTION 

MILTON   FAIRCHILD 

LECTURER,  THE  MORAL  EDUCATION  BOARD,  ALBANY,  N.  Y. 

When  something  new  in  education  comes  before 
the  pubHc,  those  interested  form  into  two  groups.  One 
group  depends  upon  personal  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
perience with  the  new  method  for  its  basis  of  approval 
or  condemnation.  The  other  wants  to  know  the  theory 
on  which  it  is  worked  out  and  if  this  is  not  sound,  no 
degree  of  practical  success  will  justify  its  use.  It  is 
the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  satisfy  as  far  as  may  be 
the  inquirers  of  these  two  classes. 

At  the  close  of  this  paper  will  be  given  in  full,  with 
photographs  projected  on  the  screen  before  you,  a 
"Morality  Lesson"  which,  of  itself,  will  be  an  ex- 
planation to  those  who  wish  to  know  the  details  of 
the  new  mode  of  moral  instruction. 

A  bit  of  the  history  and  a  brief  of  the  theory  will  be 
a  fitting  introduction. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1896-7  that  I  began  to  give 
my  entire  attention  to  the  problem  of  moral  instruc- 
tion, with  the  definite  intent  of  discovering  a  mode  of 
instruction  that  would  prove  effective.  By  effective 
I  mean  adequately  influential  over  the  moral  con- 
victions and  the  lives  of  children.  Eleven  years  of 
concentrated  attention  is  justified  by  the  extreme  im- 
portance of  the  object  sought  to  be  attained.  It  is 
very  clear  indeed  that  the  future  attainment  of  a 
satisfactory  social  state  by  the  masses  of  civilization 
depends  on  stability  and  wisdom  in  the  moral  life  of 
the  masses.  If  the  moral  life  be  stable  and  full  of 
wisdom,  the  demagogue  and  the  financial  adventurer 
will  never  long  retain  leadership  in  affairs  of  politics 


214     EDUCATION    AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

or  of  commerce,  while  reliable  leaders  will  be  able  to 
accomplish  results. 

Wisdom  in  public  and  private  life  is  the  result  of 
insight  into  experience.  For  the  benefit  of  public 
morals  we  must  accumulate  the  facts  of  experience  to 
an  adequate  degree,  and  we  must  hand  down  our  ac- 
cumulated wisdom  to  the  children  of  each  generation 
that  they  may  profit  thereby. 

We  have  become  accustomed  to  the  thorough  plans 
by  which  the  natural  sciences  accumulate  information. 
We  know  that  thousands  of  trained  scientists  are  co- 
operating in  a  continuous  effort  to  accumulate  knowl- 
edge and  to  interpret  it  in  generalizations  called  laws 
which  explain  the  natural  world  to  the  human  mind. 
The  rise  of  the  scientific  movement  is  the  significant 
fact  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  past  century. 

We  have  a  group  of  scientists  assigned  to  what  is 
called  sociology.  They  endeavor  to  explain  human 
activity  within  social  groups.  They  might  confine 
their  study  to  observed  social  activity  and  the  ex- 
planation of  activities.  Were  they  to  do  this,  they 
would  have  a  worthy  task  of  an  informational  char- 
acter. And  the  information  they  would  furnish 
would  be  useful  and  essential  to  ethics  in  its  effort  to 
decide  what  is  right  and  wrong  for  the  individual.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  sociologists  do  not  confine  themselves 
to  explanatory  observation  and  analysis,  but  they 
realize  that  out  of  a  better  understanding  of  social 
activity  as  it  is,  ought  to  come  directive  wisdom  for 
the  improvement  of  social  conditions,  and  they  be- 
come advisers  as  to  what  individuals  ought  to  do  and 
refrain  from  doing  in  their  social  relations.  Econom- 
ics also  naturally  oversteps  the  bounds  of  pure  science, 
the  orderly  search  for  knowledge,  and  becomes  ad- 
visory in  the  economic  affairs  of  civilization;  but  its 
dicta  are  recognized  as  subject  to  review  by  ethics  be- 


ILLUSTRATED   MORAL   INSTRUCTION      215 

fore  they  become  obligatory.  One  might  be  better  off 
in  an  economic  sense  to  follow  the  practical  advice  of 
economics,  but  no  wise  man  would  decide  his  duty  on 
economic  considerations  alone.  Sociology,  however, 
includes  such  a  wide  range  of  benefits  to  follow  from 
its  advice  that  there  adheres  in  the  advice  an  obliga- 
tion for  its  fulfillment,  and  sociology  reaches  over  into 
ethics  inevitably. 

There,  is,  however,  an  unsatisfactoriness  in  the 
advice  which  comes  from  sociology.  The  directive 
conclusions  of  sociology  rest  on  too  narrow  a  base. 
Its  eyes  see  only  the  civilization  of  this  world,  and 
it  plans  to  better  that  civilization  on  the  basis  of  the 
belief  that  the  good  of  the  individual  begins  at  birth 
and  ends  at  death,  while  society  lives  on  and  on,  ac- 
cumulating worthy  schemes  of  living,  peace,  and  hap- 
piness. With  what  becomes  of  society  in  the  infinite 
future,  when  the  earth  is  cold  in  death,  it  does  not 
interest  itself  as  a  factor  in  the  scientific  evolution 
of  practical  advice.  Herein  lies  the  cause  for  the 
unsatisfactoriness  of  sociology's  advice.  Intelligent 
human  beings  do  not  take  kindly  to  advice  implying 
obligation  for  its  fulfillment  which  rests  upon  a  base 
too  narrow  to  include  the  great  beliefs  which  bring  to 
them  their  willingness  to  live  at  all.  An  explanation 
of  social  activity  of  the  past  or  present  is  false  and  ir- 
ritating if  it  does  not  include  as  important  factors  the 
great  beliefs  which  have  been  realities  in  the  intellec- 
tual and  emotional  life  of  human  beings  and  those 
which  are  now  such.  And  practical  advice  which  is 
deduced  logically  from  such  explanations  at  first 
arouses  animated  protest,  finally  is  disregarded  and 
becomes  a  weariness  to  the  soul. 

The  scope  of  sociology  is  too  narrow,  and  this  is 
the  result  of  its  endeavor  to  preempt  a  definite  field  for 
study  contrary  to  the  nature  of  the  subject  matter 


2i6     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

involved.  Sociology  inevitably  connects  itself  with 
ethics. 

But  ethics  of  the  established  type  is  a  review  of  the 
theories  of  moral  obligation  which  human  specula- 
tion has  devised,  and  such  ethics  has  no  utility  for 
lower  education,  and  very  little  for  college  education. 
It  belongs  in  graduate  disciplines,  to  satisfy  the  curiosity 
of  a  very  few.  It  is  the  instinctive  realization  of 
this  inapplicability  of  ethics  as  it  is  to  the  education 
of  boys  and  girls  that  causes  the  restraint  on  the  part 
of  teachers  when  the  introduction  of  ethical  instruc- 
tion in  the  schools  is  proposed.  But  there  is  arising 
a  new  group  of  students  of  ethics,  which  could  with 
profit  combine  with  the  sociologists  to  furnish  them  a 
broader  base  and  wider  outlook,  and  to  take  up  with 
them  the  problems  of  the  individual's  attainment  of 
highest  personal  character  and  life,  including  his 
social  relations  as  factors  and  also  including  the  obli- 
gations which  arise  from  his  great  beliefs. 

This  would  be  a  "new  ethics"  fitted  for  instruction. 
There  is  a  revealed  morality  which  is  an  important  and 
dominating  factor  in  the  moral  life  of  any  nation,  and 
as  a  matter  of  fact  very  few  human  beings  decide  what 
they  will  and  will  not  do  without  the  inclusion  of 
this  revealed  morality  as  a  factor  in  the  decision.  It 
is  utter  and  obvious  folly  to  plan  for  instruction  in 
morality  in  disregard  of  this  fact  of  the  intellectual 
and  emotional  life.  Great  moral  ideals  have  been 
revealed,  which  by  their  intrinsic  beauty  appeal  to 
the  moral  instinct  as  worthy  of  fulfillment,  and  these 
grip  us  with  bonds  of  obligation  that  it  is  destructive 
of  one's  sense  of  personal  righteousness  to  break.  An 
ethics  which  is  merely  an  effort  to  adjust  pleasantly 
the  details  of  daily  life  will  never  win  respect  nor 
carry  influence,  because  it  will  lack  truth  and  wisdom 
fundamentally.     As    a    matter   of   fact    there   exists 


ILLUSTRATED   MORAL   INSTRUCTION      217 

already  an  ethics  which  has  a  large  body  of  advisory 
truth  for  daily  life  and  which  does  include  for  its  basis 
both  revealed  morality,  with  its  accompanying  great 
beliefs  as  to  the  nature  of  human  beings,  and  also  the 
relations  of  the  individual  to  his  environing  world  of 
human  beings.  This  ethics  exists  for  each  and  every 
intelligent  human  being.  We  decide  our  duties  each 
on  this  natural  basis  and  we  judge  ourselves  as  right 
or  wrong  in  action  on  its  dictum.  A  reform  in  the 
old  ethics  and  a  reform  in  the  new  sociology  of  the 
universities  would  make  possible  the  assignment  of  a 
body  of  scholars  to  the  task  of  making  more  intelligent 
this  sort  of  ethics.  We  do  solve  our  practical  prob- 
lems of  duty,  and  anything  which  human  beings  do 
they  can  be  assisted  by  increased  intelligence  to  do 
better  than  is  their  wont. 

This  new  ethics  which  I  propose  has  nothing  arti- 
ficial about  it.  It  is  simply  the  natural  ethics,  which 
is  and  always  has  been  the  guide  of  intelligent  people 
in  their  daily  lives,  this  natural  ethics  wrought  out 
by  long  continued  study  into  scientific  form.  It  is 
not  the  old  ethics  at  all  that  I  propose  shall  be  intro- 
duced into  American  popular  education,  but  an  ethics 
of  wider  scope  and  of  vital  importance  to  daily  life. 
This  will  be  self-evident  when  the  "morality  lesson" 
is  before  you. 

The  field  of  study  proposed  for  this  new  ethics  is 
actual  human  conduct,  its  m.otives  and  results,  both 
individual  and  social,  for  the  two  are  inseparable,  if 
the  utility  of  results  is  the  basis  of  assignment  of 
fields  for  the  human  sciences.  And  of  course  there 
must  be  satisfactory  methods  of  observation  of  human 
conduct,  so  that  the  fact-basis  for  scientific  treat- 
ment may  be  obtained.  In  addition  to  the  accepted 
methods  of  observation,  I  have  proposed  in  the  uni- 
versities that  "photographic  observation"  be  pushed 


2i8     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

systematically  and  over  hundreds  of  years  of  time, 
so  that  accurate  and  accumulated  knowledge  in  de- 
tails of  conduct  may  be  the  basis  of  this  new  ethics. 
I  have  made  photographic  observation  a  success  both 
in  the  study  of  children's  ethical  problems  and  of 
some  adult  problems.  Its  introduction  into  the  uni- 
versities will  be  achieved  in  the  near  future. 

Out  of  the  thorough  study  of  a  few  of  the  problems 
in  ethics  which  are  vital  to  boys  and  girls  have  come 
three  "morality  lessons."  These  have  had  an  ag- 
gregate audience  of  a  little  over  52,000  in  the  last  two 
years. 

What  is  called  the  "Moral  Education  Board"  has 
been  formed,  which  includes  in  its  membership  both 
the  President  and  Vice-president  of  this  Association, 
a  goodly  number  of  educators  devoted  exclusively  to 
secular  education,  and  many  in  professional  and 
business  life.  The  total  membership  is  122.  This 
board  is  the  first  organization  of  influential  educators 
in  support  of  any  definite  plan  for  moral  instruction 
in  American  schools. 

The  moral  instruction  which  the  members  of  the 
Board  have  accepted  as  available  and  effective  is 
visual  instruction  by  means  of  what  are  called  for  lack 
of  a  better  name,  "Illustrated  Morality  Lessons." 
A  subject  of  recognized  importance  in  school  life  is 
chosen,  such  as  the  "ethics  of  sport,"  and  an  illus- 
trated lesson  made  from  photographs  of  American 
and  English  sports.  Their  meaning  is  explained  so 
that  the  pupils  can  see  for  themselves  what  true  sports- 
manship is  the  world  over.  An  effective  lesson  can- 
not be  arranged  until  the  photographs  essential  to  its 
ideas  have  been  collected,  and  it  was  found  necessary 
to  invent  a  special  camera,  one  that  can  take  thirty 
photographs  inside  of  one  minute,  and  to  exercise 
unlimited  patience  in  searching  for  useful  photographs. 


ILLUSTRATED   MORAL   INSTRUCTION      219 

A  large  collection  of  negatives  has  been  made  especially 
for  these  morality  lessons,  the  subjects  being  the  events 
and  incidents  of  real  life.  Extreme  care  is  used  in  the 
selection  of  situations  that  have  moral  significance 
and  tend  to  positive  effects  in  the  minds  of  the  children. 
The  emphasis  of  every  lesson  is  on  the  right  and  fine  in 
conduct  and  spirit. 

The  photographs  are  not  left  to  do  all  the  work, 
but  each  has  its  interpretation,  carefully  written  as 
to  the  thought  and  style.  These  interpretations  are  of 
equal  importance  with  the  photographs.  The  positions 
taken  are  those  which  public  opinion  on  the  whole  has 
come  to  sanction,  consultation  bemg  had  with  many 
persons  in  different  walks  of  life  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
every  paragraph.  An  illustrated  morality  lesson, 
therefore,  is  an  illustrated  argument  in  justification 
of  reasonable  and  high  standards  of  personal  conduct. 
It  is  winning  and  convincing  and  influential,  because 
it  brings  before  the  children's  eyes,  and  interprets  for 
them,  real  human  experience  in  justification  of  the 
moralitv  in  which  their  elders  believe.  It  has  force, 
because  it  explains  public  opinion  in  these  matters  in  a 
way  that  interests,  and  is  rich  enough  in  details  to 
make  self-evident  the  good  sense  of  the  conduct  it 
approves. 

There  are  at  present  only  a  few  of  these  morality 
lessons  completed  and  in  practical  use,  because  of  the 
difficulties  involved  in  their  production,  but  such  les- 
sons as  are  completed  have  their  own  usefulness  as 
individual  lessons,  and  have  been  thoroughly  tested 
and  proved  effective. 

Their  titles  are  as  follows : 

1,  The  True  Sportsman,  for  high  and  grammar 
schools, 

2.  What  I'm  Going  to  Be  when  I'm  Grown  Up, 
for  grammar  and  high  schools. 


220     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

3.  What  Men  Think  about  Boys'  Fights,  for  gram- 
mar schools. 

The  following  comment  was  written  by  a  boy  some 
two  weeks  after  seeing  and  hearing  on  "  Boys'  Fights" 
photographs  and  interpretations,  and  carries  its  own 
weight  of  evidence. 

"All  this  was  very  interesting,  and  did  a  deal 
of  good,  especially  the  fighting,  which  has  saved  some 
boys  a  great  deal  of  trouble. " 

It  is  possible  to  estimate  the  value  of  these  plans  for 
moral  instruction  if  one  takes  a  look  into  the  future  of 
this  project.  Imagine  illustrated  morality  lectures 
on  these  and  other  topics  on  which  a  hundred  years  of 
wisdom  and  experience  have  been  concentrated.  For 
each  a  wonderfully  effective  series  of  photographs 
would  have  been  collected,  and  the  experience  of  society 
for  the  hundred  years  accumulated  to  sustain  every 
paragraph.  Every  feature  of  each  lecture  would  have 
the  perfection  which  comes  from  criticism  and  attention 
to  every  detail.  The  lectures  offered  for  immediate 
use  are  well  done  and  thoroughly  tested  in  their  present 
form,  but  they  will  gather  strength  from  year  to  year. 
The  Moral  Education  Board  stands  for  continuity  in 
the  effort  to  embody  public  opinion  in  what  may  prop- 
erly be  called  "text-lectures"  in  morality. 


HOW  CAN  RELIGION   DISCHARGE  ITS  FUNC- 
TION IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS? 

HENRY  F.  COPE 

GENERAL    SECRETARY,    THE    RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION    ASSOCIATION 

Religion  is  the  life  of  ideals.  The  religious  life  is 
the  one  that  moves  on  into  its  ideals,  realizes  and  de- 
velops them,  the  life  more  largely  actuated  by  what 
ought  to  be  than  by  what  is. 


RELIGION   IN  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS      221 

The  question  is,  How  may  we  cause  those  ideals  and 
aspirations  which  have  contributed  most  largely  to  our 
character  development  and  which  constitute  so  rich  a 
part  of  our  spiritual  heritage,  those  which  we  know 
to  be  highest  and  best,  to  function  in  the  public 
schools  for  the  purposes  of  education? 

We  must  first  determine  just  what  it  is  that  we  de- 
sire. Do  we  not  need  to  separate  the  essential  from  the 
non-essential  in  religion,  the  spirit  and  life  from  its 
phraseology,  from  its  ethnic  interpretations,  and  il- 
lustrations, from  its  historic  shells  and  its  dogmatic 
definitions  ?  If  by  religion  we  mean  that  spirit  and 
life  which  seek  the  full  and  normal  development  of  the 
personality  through  and  for  the  sake  of  the  complete 
social  life  that  embraces  God  and  humanity,  then  it 
is  evident  that  in  present  conditions  religion  cannot 
become  an  educational  factor  (i)  through  present 
institutions  of  religion,  not  even  through  pastors, 
priests,  etc.,  entering  the  school  and  teaching  therein, 
either  by  denominational  groups  of  pupils  or  at  set 
periods.  This  would  be  to  defeat  the  purpose  of  the 
school  as  a  social  institution,  to  break  up  its  social 
solidarity.  Nor  can  religion  enter  through  (2)  in- 
struction at  special  periods,  as  on  Wednesday  after- 
noon in  the  churches.  This  would  not  be  religion 
functioning  in  the  schools  but  the  schools  meeting  in 
the  churches.  Religion  cannot  serve  in  the  schools 
(3)  through  direct  teaching  of  religious  doctrines,  in- 
stitutions, etc.  Agreement  as  to  any  doctrines,  no 
matter  how  innocuous  or  ultimately  vacuous  the  form 
of  statement  might  be,  would  make  the  schools  creedal 
and  sectarian  and,  based  upon  such  a  platform,  they 
would  become  really  a  sect  by  themselves.  Religion 
cannot  accomplish  its  educational  service  (4)  through 
the  Bible  in  the  schools,  since  the  Bible  must  be  regarded 
as  a  sectarian  book  by  any  but  Christians,  while  any 


222     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

attempt  to  use  the  Bible  as  the  principal  means  of 
religious  development  in  the  schools  through  its  intro- 
duction as  literature,  is  to  seek  to  obtain  that  religious 
development  imder  false  pretenses  and  at  the  same 
time  is  to  assume  that  there  are  no  other  agencies  of 
religious  nurture  beside  the  Bible.  Nor  can  we  solve 
the  problem  (5)  through  any  direct  and  formal  pre- 
sentation of  religion  as  a  subject  by  itself,  for  it  is  evi- 
dent that  religion  is  not  something  to  be  taught  as  we 
teach  geography  or  any  other  subject  that  is  mastered 
when  its  facts  are  known  and  co-ordinated.  For  the 
purpose  of  religious  education,  religion  is  not  a  science. 
Learning  about  religion  does  not  make  us  religious. 
It  is  caught  rather  than  taught. 

But  the  public  school  is  at  present  engaged  in  edu- 
cation by  means  of  teaching.  Is  there  any  way  by 
which  religion  can  have  its  place  in  the  teaching  of  the 
schools?  We  cannot  teach  inspiration  or  aspiration. 
We  cannot  teach  vision  or  hunger  after  righteousness, 
and  still  anyone  may  be  taught  the  way  of  "this  life 
of  ideals,  by  showing  the  life  of  those  who  have  fol- 
lowed great  ideals;  by  discovering  the  ideals  which 
have  determined  those  lives ;  by  discovering  the  simple 
means  of  their  realization  of  such  ideals ;  by  recognizing 
the  effects  of  their  realization;  by  indicating  in  detail 
the  application  of  ideal  principles  to  specific  acts  and 
circumstances. 

This  teaching  is  possible  in  the  regular  curriculum 
of  the  schools.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  large  a 
function  religion  has  in  the  public-school  curriculum 
where  the  teacher  has  this  view  of  religion  and  has,  too, 
the  character  aim  in  education.  If  we  can  give  a  new 
content  to  the  word  "religion"  so  that,  while  recog- 
nizing the  wider  philosophical  connotation,  it  will 
signify  to  the  average  person  the  subjective  side  of  that 
which  objectively  he  knows  as  morals  and  practical 


RELIGION   IN  THE   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS       223 

righteousness,  there  will  be  no  question  as  to  the  place 
of  religion  in  the  public  schools  and  religion  will  come 
to  mean  simply  the  striving  of  the  life  after  fulness  and 
perfection  in  every  relation.  If  we  are  seeking  a  place 
for  religion  in  this  sense  in  the  schools  it  will  be  evident 
that  since  we  are  dealing  with  young  minds,  thinking 
in  the  concrete,  dealing  with  phenomena  rather  than 
philosophy,  we  need  only  to  present  religion  in  terms 
of  the  concrete,  that  is,  for  the  present  at  least,  in  the 
public  schools,  through  conduct,  morality  and  ethics, 
while  those  examples  of  high  character  which  are  ex- 
hibited may  well  be  those  which  are  animated  by  the 
spirit  of  religious  idealism. 

Having  in  mind  then  the  teaching  of  religion  in 
terms  of  the  concrete  it  will  be  evident  that  there  are 
many  legitimate  opportunities  for  religious  education 
in  the  public  schools  for  such  teaching  will  be  but  the 
teaching  of  ethics  with  the  religious  motive. 

Without  here  considering  the  question  whether 
formal  courses  in  ethics  should  be  instituted  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  or  whether  we  must  depend  wholly  upon  in- 
formal means  of  education  in  morals,  it  is  still  worth 
while  to  survey  the  enormous  possibilities  afforded  in 
the  regular  instruction  and  activities  of  the  school, 
for  moral  training. 

I.  In  the  regular  curricula  of  the  schools  it  is 
difficult  to  find  a  single  subject  in  the  range  of  the 
curriculum  of  the  average  elementary  school  which 
does  not  relate  itself  to  the  moral  life  of  the  student 
and  does  not  contain  material  and  suggestions  or  raise 
questions  regarding  matters  of  ethics.  To  mention 
only  a  few  of  the  subjects  and  in  the  briefest  form 
suggest  their  uses: 

First,  in  Civics.  It  is  possible  to  teach  this  sub- 
ject in  such  a  way  that  the  child  conceives  of  the  whole 
arrangement  of  the  government  of  this  country  as 


2  24     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

something  entirely  foreign  to  himself.  It  is  possible 
to  teach  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  raise  the  largest  questions 
of  personal  responsibility  for  national  welfare,  and  to 
quicken  in  a  most  valuable  manner  the  social  conscience 
of  the  student.  Teaching  civics  with  the  thought  of 
the  child  as  a  citizen,  with  the  thought  of  government 
as  a  matter  of  social  relations,  and  with  the  ideal  of  the 
right  adjustment  of  these  relations  and  the  full  dis- 
charge of  one's  duties  in  them  as  the  noblest  expres- 
sion of  personal  righteousness  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
salutary  and  lasting  effect  on  the  moral  and  religious 
ideals  of  the  student's  life. 

Second,  in  teaching  history.  No  force  is  more  de- 
terminative of  character  than  that  of  personal  ideals. 
There  can  be  no  teaching  of  history  to  young  people 
by  any  person  who  is  not  truly  a  hero-worshipper. 
So  far  as  they  are  concerned,  history  must  be  "phil- 
osophy teaching  by  example. "  We  men  and  women 
are  very  largely  what  we  conceived  our  childhood's 
heroes  and  ideals  to  be.  There  need  be  no  moralizing, 
no  discussion  or  analysis  of  the  elements  of  moral 
greatness  in  world  or  national  heroes,  but  the  picture 
of  their  simple  integrity,  their  devotion  to  ideals, 
their  singleness  of  purpose  and  their  self-sacrifice  will 
become  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  permanent  spir- 
itual heritages  of  the  developing  child  life.  In  later 
years  it  is  possible  to  lead  the  student  in  discovery 
for  himself  of  the  moral  principles  underlying  national 
questions  and  the  development  of  the  social  conscience 
in  a  people,  and  of  all  that  we  may  call  "the  moral 
philosophy  of  history. " 

Third,  in  teaching  Physiology,  Hygiene,  and  re- 
lated subjects.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  care 
of  one's  body  and  the  discharge  of  one's  duties  as  the 
creator  and  guardian  of  the  welfare  of  neighbors  and 
citizens  is  a  moral  responsibility.     But  it  is  necessary 


RELIGION   IN  THE   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS       225 

if  we  have  the  full  ideals  of  education  in  mind  that 
we  should  teach  the  care  of  the  body  as  a  spiritual 
duty,  that  the  teachers  should  so  conceive  of  it.  There 
is  little  value  in  the  presentation  of  the  bare  facts  of 
physiology,  in  the  memorization  of  those  unrelated 
and  partial  facts  of  science  grouped  under  the  head 
of  Hygiene,  or  in  the  scrappy  discussion  of  questions 
of  sanitation,  unless  all  these  are  co-ordinated  and 
unified  in  the  student  himself,  unless  he  discovers  for 
himself  that  the  reason  for  studying  these  things  is  in 
order  that  he  may  find  personal  rightness  of  relation 
to  his  physical  environment,  and  the  best  possible 
discharge  of  his  duties  in  relation  to  the  physical 
conditions  of  the  life  of  others. 

Fourth,  in  teaching  Literature.  It  is  perhaps  hardly 
necessary  to  mention  the  magnificent  field  which  opens 
up  here,  nor  to  suggest  what  a  rich  spiritual  heritage 
a  student  may  acquire  when  led  by  the  true  lover 
of  the  best  in  literature  to  acquaintance  with  and 
appreciation  of  those  riches  of  thought  and  feeling  in 
the  brain  and  heart  of  seers  of  every  tongue,  which 
every  true  man  treasures  and  holds  "where  neither 
moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt."  The  right  appreci- 
ation of  this  spiritual  heritage  in  literature  will  culti- 
vate a  fine  taste,  a  life  of  keen  discrimination.  If  we 
have  but  taught  young  people  to  love  Tennyson  and 
Browning,  or  even  as  children  to  live  with  Longfellow, 
we  have  set  their  feet  in  a  path  so  rich  with  soul  food 
that  all  the  years  will  be  strengthened  and  they  are  not 
likely  to  be  led  to  the  by-paths  of  wasteful  and  de- 
moralizing reading.  No  person  can  watch  the  reading 
habits  of  the  adults  of  our  day  as  seen  in  their  homes, 
their  libraries,  or  the  books  in  their  hands  on  the  train 
and  car,  without  wondering  whether  the  next  genera- 
tion will  have  acquired  taste  for  things  worth  while  in 
literatiire,  or  will  be  so  confirmed  in  the  appetite  for 


2  26     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

the  ephemeral,  for  the  spice  and  candy  of  reading,  that 
the  heritage  of  our  fathers  will  almost  perish  from  our 
minds. 

Fifth,  in  teaching  Mathematics.  Few  things  will 
contribute  more  to  the  moral  life  of  the  man  or  woman 
than  the  adoption  of  standards  of  exactness  in  child- 
hood. It  may  be  important  to  memorize  the  rules 
in  mathematics  but  the  principal  thing  is  to  set  down 
as  axiomatic  the  unvarying  law  that  runs  through  all, 
the  unchanging,  undeviating  necessity  for  precision, 
for  exactness.  The  mathematician  may  spoil  his 
imagination  but  he  has  the  advantage  of  finding  it 
difficult  to  become  a  fluent  liar,  an  habitual  twister 
of  facts.  The  impression  that  comes  from  the  right 
study  of  mathematics  is  that  things  only  are  as  they 
are.  Perhaps,  too,  there  is  a  little  possibility  for 
spiritual  training  in  the  incidental  discussion  that 
ought  to  rise  in  the  treatment  of  the  simple  problems 
of  arithmetic.  The  question  of  how  many  bushels 
of  wheat  at  so  much  there  ought  to  be  in  a  car  worth 
so  much  at  once  presents  to  the  student's  mind  the 
question  of  the  value  of  wheat,  the  question  of  full 
weights  and  measures ;  and  many  problems  that  touch 
mercantile  life  would  be  illuminated  by  the  right 
kind  of  discussion  of  business  dealings,  which  would 
strengthen  in  the  child-mind  high  standards  of  busi- 
ness honor. 

There  are  many  other  subjects  in  the  high-school 
course  which,  at  that  period  of  the  development  of  the 
life,  when  the  interests  are  even  more  keen  on  ques- 
tions of  ethics,  when,  in  an  impersonal  manner  at 
first,  and  afterwards  in  a  personal  manner,  the  student 
is  asking,  "What  is  right?"  "What  is  square?" 
when  he  is  conscious  of  relating  himself  to  a  world, 
the  teacher  who  is  steadily  touching  the  real  life  of  the 
student  cannot  faij  to  lead  to  the  moral  perceptions  of 


RELIGION   IN  THE   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS       227 

the  subjects  taught.  The  principal  danger  is  that, 
in  the  anxiety  to  touch  on  the  moral  phases  of  subjects, 
ethical  teaching  shall  be  injected  instead  of  ethical 
treatment  naturally  and  necessarily  growing  out  of 
the  discussion  of  the  lesson  material.  Nothing  is 
taught  that  is  tacked  on. 

Particularly  in  some  high-school  courses  ought 
there  to  be  a  large  amount  of  attention  given  to  the 
ethics  involved,  for  instance,  in  business.  Those 
high  schools  which  now  give  the  student  a  more  or 
less  complete  course  of  business  training  ought  to  see 
that  no  youth  is  equipped  for  service  in  a  business  office 
without  the  furnishing  of  the  mind  with  those  clear 
and  high  standards  of  Tightness  which  more  and  more 
commonly  prevail  in  the  business  world.  It  is  bad 
enough  to  have  an  assistant  who  twists  and  distorts  the 
English  you  may  dictate  to  him,  but  it  is  a  great  deal 
more  dangerous  and  discouraging  to  have  a  youth  or 
young  woman  in  the  office  who  thinks  that  smartness 
and  sharp  dealing,  trickery  and  falsehood,  are  essential 
parts  of  the  key  to  success. 

II.  But,  after  all,  the  school  is  more  than  an  in- 
stitution of  instruction.  It  is  an  organization.  In 
what  way  can  religion  play  its  part  through  the  ac- 
tivities, through  the  organization  and  life  of  the  school? 

I.  It  can  and  must  function  through  the  whole 
spirit  and  purpose  of  public-school  education.  This 
must  move  into  the  wider  significance  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  whole  of  a  life  for  all  the  purposes  of  living. 
The  purpose  of  the  public  school  must  be  the  ideal  life. 
We  must  move  from  the  utilitarian  conception.  If 
the  agencies  of  education  will  emphasize  the  beautiful 
and  ideal  we  can  trust  the  exigencies  of  life  to  empha- 
size the  practical  and  actual.  We  need  more  of  the 
culture  spirit  in  our  public  schools.  We  must  educate 
our  public -school  educators  to  the  supremacy  of  charac- 


2  28     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

ter.  When  that  spirit  and  passion  of  higher  hfe  per- 
meates the  teachers  it  will  become  the  atmosphere  of 
the  schoolroom  and  the  environment  of  the  scholar. 

Some  practical  suggestions  may  be  made  as  to  the 
functioning  of  religion  in  the  life  and  activities  of  the 
school. 

First,  in  its  discipline,  government,  and  organiza- 
tion. A  school  is  a  little  world.  It  is  likely  to  be  a 
large  world  to  the  child's  mind.  It  is  one  of  his  worlds 
and  is  determining  by  its  character  what  the  worlds 
into  which  he  shall  come  shall  be.  Sanity,  order, 
precision,  he  will  normally  appreciate  and  cooperate 
with.  In  that  school  where  the  plan  of  organization 
is  definitely  apprehended  by  its  corps  of  teachers, 
where  their  cooperation  and  close  following  of  its  ideals 
secures  harmony  of  faculty  relations  and  prevalence  of 
implicit  ideals  of  order,  the  student  is  receiving  lessons 
more  lasting  than  any  that  could  be  put  in  words,  is 
taking  ideals  and  adopting  standards  that  will  deter- 
mine his  own  life  and  in  no  small  measure  all  his  en- 
vironment. In  such  a  school  it  is  safe  to  allow  the 
student  to  give  expression  to  the  impression  it  creates. 
Self-government  is  sane  only  where  the  school  is  al- 
ready self -governed.  The  students  in  any  self-gov- 
ernment plan  express  will  those  ideals  and  standards 
which  the  school  has  already  given  them.  We  owe 
perhaps  more  than  we  are  ready  to  acknowledge  of 
the  irreverence  and  loose  methods  of  our  civic  affairs 
to  the  happy-go-lucky,  undisciplined,  unorganized, 
and  often  chaotic  conditions  of  public-school  manage- 
ment, or  non-management,  which  may  have  been  the 
inevitable  condition  of  the  small  country  school,  and 
the  untrained  teaching  force  of  the  past,  but  for  which 
there  is  practically  no  excuse  to-day. 

Second,  in  the  sports,  athletics,  and  playground 
life  of  the  school.     There  must  be  freedom  from  re- 


RELIGION   IN  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS       229 

straint,  but  there  must  be  direction,  inspiration  and 
cultivation  here.  After  all,  in  no  small  measure,  the 
athletic  problem  of  the  imiversity  is  going  to  be  solved 
on  the  playground  and  the  vacant  lot  of  the  public- 
school  children.  Certainly  first  of  all  we  need  a  clear 
understanding  of  play  in  the  education  of  the  child. 
No  teacher  is  wasting  time  who  is  watching  the  child's 
play  and  endeavoring  to  catch  ideals  animating  the 
child  in  play.  More  than  this,  here  we  determine 
whether  the  future  men  and  women  shall  play  for 
the  game  itself,  or  for  the  lower  prize  of  the  winning  of 
the  game,  or  some  reward  offered  therefor.  We  de- 
termine here  how  they  shall  play  the  whole  game  of  life, 
indeed. 

Third,  in  enlisting  the  activities  of  the  child  in  the 
arrangement  and  decoration  of  the  schoolroom  and 
the  school  grounds.  Two  plans  are  possible.  One  is 
that  the  school  committee  or  teacher  shall  sally  forth 
and  purchase  a  Venus  de  Milo,  and  a  set  of  Sargent's 
Prophets,  and  a  Pharaoh's  Horses,  shall  persuade  the 
proper  committee  to  decorate  the  room  in  terra  cotta, 
with  a  suitable  dado,  and  shall  buy  some  geraniums 
and  set  out  some  other  plants  for  the  school  ground,  and 
then  shall  say  to  the  child,  "Drink  in  this  atmosphere 
of  the  classical  and  cultural. "  The  other  is  that  the 
children,  catching  in  History,  in  Civics,  in  Literature, 
and  even  in  Hygiene,  the  ideals,  shall  give  expression  to 
them  in  the  adornment  of  the  room  and  the  groimds; 
that  this  beauty  shall  not  be  imposed,  but  shall  be  ex- 
pressed. The  Parthenon  never  comes  from  the  photo- 
graph into  the  soul  of  a  man ;  it  grows  out  of  his  soul 
and  translates  the  picture  from  flat  lines  into  full  beauty. 
The  same  is  true  in  regard  to  the  care  and  adornment 
of  the  grounds.  Standards  of  orderliness,  cleanliness 
and  beauty  that  are  gradually  adopted  because  they  are 
desired,  have  an  educational  value  in  the  life  of  the 


23©    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

student,  and  a  practical  reflex  in  his  conduct  and  in  the 
conditions  of  his  city  as  he  becomes  a  man,  that  could 
not  result  from  the  mere  imposition  of  rules,  or  pre- 
sentation of  conditions  of  order  from  outside. 

One  other  suggestion  might  be  made :  the  problem 
will  move  toward  solution  when  religious  people  have 
larger  faith  in  the  spiritual  motive  and  religious  possi- 
bilities of  the  public  schools.  We  must  cease  to  talk 
of  our  schools  as  godless.  We  need  to  uphold  the 
hands  of  teachers  in  the  public  schools.  In  no  small 
degree  is  it  true  that  educational  agencies  will  be  spirit- 
ualized when  the  spiritual  agencies  are  educated  and 
have  become  educational. 

In  theory,  then,  we  need,  (ist)  to  lift  religion  above 
its  accidents  to  a  significance  that  will  have  harmony 
with  the  highest  educational  ideals,  to  see  it,  subjective- 
ly, as  inspiration  and  idealism,  objectively,  as  conduct 
and  social  adjustment;  (2nd)  to  give  to  education  a 
spirit  and  purpose  that  finds  unity  with  religion  at  the 
apex,  that  it  may  mean,  too,  fulness  of  living  personal 
and  social. 

In  practice,  religion  can  and  does  function  object- 
ively, practically,  as  expression,  conduct,  and  life  in 
the  public  schools.  It  must  do  so  yet  more  until  the 
measure  of  the  success  of  any  school  is  the  manner  and 
measure  in  which  it  leads  any  life  out,  through  every- 
day living  of  the  good  and  true  into  the  better  and 
best,  with  larger  inspiration  and  under  higher  ideals 
into  the  fulness  of  life  that  is  religion. 


THE   PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER  231 


THE  PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER 

REV.  FLOYD  W.   TOMKINS,   D.D. 

RECTOR,  HOLY  TRINITY  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

St.  Paul's  declaration  to  the  effect  that  God  has 
given  special  gifts  to  each  one  of  His  children,  has 
been  enlarged  in  these  modem  days  so  as  to  indicate 
that  God  has  placed  at  least  the  possibility  of  endow- 
ment within  the  reach  of  every  minister  enabling  him 
to  be  an  apostle,  a  prophet,  an  evangelist,  a  pastor 
and  a  teacher,  and  a  great  many  other  things  besides. 
We  can  be  thankful  that,  so  far  at  least,  specializing 
has  been  kept  out  of  the  practical  ministry.  While 
the  rest  of  the  learned  world  is  being  burdened  by 
ten  men  trying  to  do  the  work  once  performed  with 
some  credit  by  one,  the  religious  world  has  clung  to  its 
old  conception  of  a  minister  fulfilling  all  the  demands 
made  upon  him  by  the  moral,  spiritual,  and  physical 
needs  of  the  world.  We  are  to  deal  this  morning, 
therefore,  not  with  a  specialized  body  of  pastors  who 
are  professors  or  school-masters ;  but  with  the  ordinary 
parish  minister.  How  is  he  to  exercise  his  function 
as  a  teacher  in  his  church  ? 

It  will  be  well  to  confine  this  paper  to  the  pastor's 
teaching  of  the  young.  And  our  first  point  will  be  that 
the  minister  should  be  closely  and  intimately  associ- 
ated with  his  young  people  in  Sunday  school,  in  societies, 
in  their  homes.  Christ  said  to  Peter:  "Feed  My 
Lambs,"  before  He  said:  "Feed  My  Sheep."  And 
the  man  who  keeps  himself  away  from  or  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  young  of  his  church  not  only  loses  an 
opportunity  but  neglects  one  of  his  important  duties, 
and  runs  the  risk,  too  often  verified,  of  becoming  a 
dull  and  imsympathetic  and  unpractical  pastor. 
Every  minister  should  go  into  his  Sunday  school  and 


332     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

talk  to  the  children  every  Sunday.  He  should  al- 
ways attend  and  take  part  in  the  worship  and  dis- 
cussions of  the  Young  People's  Societies.  He  should 
know  and  love  his  children  and  be  known  and  loved  of 
them.  They  need  his  care,  and  he  needs  their  youth- 
ful enthusiasm  and  hope.  I  believe  that  sure  sign  of 
age  —  a  hardening  of  the  arteries  —  is  due  in  great 
measure  to  a  man's  not  keeping  his  heart  young;  and 
the  heart  is  kept  young  not  only  by  hope  and  courage 
and  cheer,  but  by  mingling  with  young  folk,  seeing 
things  as  they  see  them,  and  feeling  the  thrill  of  their 
contagious  affection.  The  pastor  can  teach  the  chil- 
dren only  when  they  know  and  love  him  and  he  knows 
and  loves  them.  Happy  and  blessed  the  lot  of  the 
man  who  in  school  or  college  is  thrown  into  constant 
contact  with  youth!  His  responsibility  is  great;  his 
opportunities  are  greater.  But  all  men  have  some  op- 
portunity. So  far  there  are  few,  if  any,  churches 
without  some  children.  Race  suicide  is  not  as  yet 
universal.  Let  the  pastor  then  arouse  himself  and 
throw  his  seedy  and  stiffening  brain  into  the  ranks  of 
youth  where  the  soil  is  ready  for  the  seed  and  the 
life  is  ready  for  the  molding. 

The  minister  cannot  go  far  astray  if  he  will  follow 
the  plan  of  the  Master  in  His  teaching.  And  that  plan 
may  reverently  and  generally  be  summed  up  as  dealing 
with  spiritual,  moral,  physical,  and  social  duties. 

I.  Spiritual  duties.  The  young  must  be  taught  in 
a  large  way  their  relationship  to  God.  Origin  and  end 
—  from  God  to  God  —  are  understood  readily  enough 
and  explain  themselves  in  everyday  language.  I  am 
God's  child,  placed  in  the  world  for  an  indefinite 
period  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  but  for  a  definite 
purpose.  God  sent  His  Son  to  teach  me  how  to  live, 
to  reveal  my  Father's  love  and  care,  to  urge  me  to 
constant  association  with   Him,   to  assure   me   that 


THE   PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER  233 

failures  need  not  embarrass  me,  and  to  inspire  me  with 
love  and  hope.  Bible,  church,  and  all  the  Christian 
privileges  of  prayer  and  worship  are  agents  to  help 
me  in  my  knowledge  of  the  great  Being,  unseen  and 
tmheard,  yet  seen  by  the  true  heart  in  nature  and  life 
and  heard  by  the  honest  soul  in  voices  without  and 
within.  To  serve  and  to  love  God  must  be  the  ne- 
cessity if  the  child  is  to  fulfill  his  life.  How  simple 
it  all  becomes  as  we  thus  outline  it !  How  infinite  the 
wealth  of  teaching  suggested!  We  ought  to  urge  the 
young  to  a  regular  and  earnest  fulfillment  of  all  the 
privileges  of  the  Christian  life.  Prayer,  Bible-study, 
worship  and  Communion  should  be  known  as  the  food 
and  drink  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  the  growing  and 
immortal  soul.  Any  amount  of  theoretic  knowledge 
must  fall  as  seed  on  stony  ground  unless  the  spirit  is 
plainly  linked  to  the  Creator  and  the  Redeemer. 
The  teaching  of  the  Bible  to  those  who  do  not  know 
God  personally  is  worse  than  useless.  And  it  is  not 
the  question  only  of  conversion  —  it  is  the  matter  of 
recognition  that  is  concerned.  Turning  from  sin,  con- 
fessing the  Christ,  joining  the  church,  are  meaningless 
terms  unless  the  child  has  learned  of  the  God  Who 
made  and  loves  him,  and  of  his  actual  sonship. 

It  also  ought  to  be  noted  that  herein  lies  the  source 
of  that  much  mooted  and  generally  neglected  question 
of  vocation.  One  can  never  cease  to  regret  that  what 
a  youth  shall  do  with  his  Hfe  is  relegated  too  often  to 
maturer  years,  and  even  then,  as  I  know  from  expe- 
rience in  dealing  with  college  men  and  women,  is  still 
an  unanswered  problem.  There  is  no  reason  why  a 
child  from  early  years  should  not  face  the  question  — 
what  am  I  to  do  with  my  life  which  God  has  given  me  ? 
It  lies  in  the  very  elements  of  a  knowledge  of  life  itself, 
and  it  appeals  to  the  quick  intelligence  of  even  the 
yoimgest.     Our  teaching  is  sadly  defective  if  it  can- 


234     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

not  bring  the  child  to  know,  first,  the  importance  of  a 
decision  as  to  the  use  of  life,  and  second,  the  necessity 
of  an  early  seeing  of  a  vision  which  shall  make  plain 
the  way  of  service.  And  this  teaching  should  all  come 
from  the  spiritual  perception.  It  is  not  my  idea  of 
pleasure ;  it  is  not  the  economic  idea  of  sustaining  life 
by  work  and  its  results ;  it  is  not  the  needs  and  demands 
even  of  a  groaning  world  waiting  for  aid.  These  all 
have  their  places.  But  really  and  rationally  it  is  a 
question  of  what  God  Who  placed  me  for  sixty  years 
in  the  world  intended  me  to  do  when  He  said:  "Let 
this  child  be  bom."  We  cannot  too  emphatically  in- 
sist upon  this.  It  is  so  logical  that  one  marvels  at  the 
obtuseness  of  him  who  denies  it.  It  is  so  necessary 
that  one  has  to  fight  against  indignation  with  those 
who  oppose  it.  And  it  lies  so  absolutely  at  the  founda- 
tion of  spiritual  education  that  we  neglect  it  at  the 
peril  of  the  whole  career  of  the  child  being  blocked  or 
misdirected  by  some  unhappy  influence  of  later  years. 
2.  Moral  duties.  Right  and  wrong  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  them  are  intuitive.  The  pastor's  work  as  a 
teacher  is  to  guide  and  instruct  the  intuitive  faculties. 
An  immense  realm  faces  him  as  he  begins  the  task,  and 
he  is  handicapped  by  faulty  instruction  and  example 
given  at  home.  The  personal  moral  life,  the  moral 
needs  of  the  world,  the  faults  and  shames  which  with 
tempting  power  seek  to  lead  astray,  and  the  vague 
and  strange  temptings  from  within  —  these  are  an 
early  source  of  bewilderment.  The  child  is  not  in- 
clined to  the  right  or  the  wrong  in  himself.  He  is 
really  in  a  negative  position,  subject  to  the  errors 
within  and  without,  and  to  the  guidance  suggested  by 
the  teacher.  Hence  a  magnificent  though  a  boundless 
field  in  which  the  teaching  function  moves.  We  can 
only  hope  in  a  paragraph  to  outline  the  method.  And 
first,  there  must  be  the  idea  of  the  preservation  and 


THE   PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER  235 

the  advance  of  the  individual.  "  What  will  hinder  and 
what  will  help  me?" — that  is  the  practical  and  real 
question  which  defines  right  or  wrong,  and  the  earlier 
the  child  finds  here  the  guiding  star  the  better  for  him. 
Duty  to  myself  as  a  child  of  a  holy  God,  that  I  may  be 
worthy  of  my  origin ;  duty  to  my  life  which  God  has 
bidden  me  live,  that  I  fail  not  in  the  purpose  of  my 
existence  —  these  are  the  matters  upon  which  I  need 
instruction  first.  Duty  to  others  will  follow  later,  but  I 
must  fit  myself,  or  be  fitted,  for  my  own  career.  Ah, 
and  how  fine  the  clear  way  in  which  the  teacher  can 
thus  direct  his  pupil!  Self -reverence,  self-knowledge, 
self-control  —  these  stand  as  the  trinity  of  individual 
development,  while  all  things  stand  as  right  which 
favor,  and  all  things  stand  as  wrong  which  hinder. 
And  here  let  me  suggest  that  we  must  be  plain  in  our 
instruction  regarding  those  basal  things  which  so 
early  come  and  try  to  kill.  Wilberforce's  "trinity  of 
evil"  as  he  calls  them  face  and  defy  the  trinity  of 
personal  development.  Intemperance,  impurity,  dis- 
honesty, these  stand  and  defy,  or  advance  and  attack 
the  child  as  well  as  the  man.  The  moral  nature  can 
readily  grasp  the  significance  of  plain  speech  here. 
Shame  on  Christian  teachers  that  they  have  been 
silent  or  neglectful  herein,  and  so  opened  the  door  to 
our  present  awful  social  condition,  due  more  largely 
to  ignorance  than  to  wilfulness ! 

We  must  teach  morality,  too,  as  regards  others. 
Moral  issues  are  altruistic  —  i.  e.  they  concern  the 
world  at  large,  and  it  is  not  only  the  personal  need 
but  the  need  of  humanity  that  should  appeal.  The 
child  can  early  recognize  his  duty  to  men.  Their 
burdens  and  sins  should  be  felt  as  his  own ;  their  errors 
as  touching  him.  Hence  the  truth  that  no  man  liveth 
to  himself;  that  he  cannot  serve  his  God  unless  he 
serves  his  fellows;   that  the  needs  of  his  brothers  will 


336     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

cry  out  against  him  unless  he  strives  to  remedy  them, 
even  though  he  may  be  personally  pure;  that  his  life 
is  not  for  individual  salvation  but  for  the  common 
welfare.  Who  can  teach  this  so  well  as  the  shepherd  of 
the  flock,  the  pastor,  who  in  caring  for  his  sheep  must 
seek  to  make  them  the  leaven,  the  light,  the  salt  of 
the  earth  ?  And  in  all  this  how  he  brings  his  Bible 
into  rich  and  full  evidence,  that  book  which  from  Gen- 
esis to  Revelation  tells  us  we  are  our  brother's  keepers ! 
Who  can  so  readily  instill  the  principles  of  service  into 
the  minds  of  the  young  as  he  who  should  be  not  only 
an  example  but  a  leader,  drawing  his  children  into 
life's  battle  and  showing  them  how  to  use  their  weap- 
ons ?  Call  our  churches  institutional  or  not,  the  pastor 
must  be  a  worker  on  lines  of  morality,  public  and  na- 
tional, and  his  regiment  is  the  youth  over  whom  Gtod 
has  placed  him. 

3.  Physical  duties.  Here  the  ancient  would  draw 
the  line,  since  he  would  claim  the  body  as  evil  and 
doomed  to  perish.  But  we  know  at  last  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  body,  destined  to  live,  glorified  forever. 
And  as  we  lead  the  young  into  the  knowledge  and  life 
of  Grod  we  teach  them  how  the  Almighty  made  man 
in  His  own  image,  after  His  own  likeness;  how  the 
God  incarnate  took  upon  Himself  humanity  and  has 
exalted  the  physical  to  heaven;  how  the  Spirit  has 
come  to  make  the  bodies  of  men  His  temples,  and  has 
called  for  holiness  therein.  The  pastor  has  a  clear 
and  definite  line  of  teaching  here,  supported  by  exam- 
ple and  precept  in  Holy  Writ,  and  he  must  accept  his 
duty.  Let  him  make  it  a  strong  plea  for  the  rational 
care  of  the  body  in  cleanliness,  in  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  health,  in  regularity  and  reverence,  in  growth 
of  stature  and  growth  of  brain.  Let  him,  wisely, 
perhaps  through  the  aid  of  physicians,  teach  the  young 
the  meaning  of  the  sacred  organs  given  for  the  creation 


THE   PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER  237 

of  new  life.  However  difficult  this  latter  task  it  must 
be  attempted  in  these  days  when  parents  are  lax  and 
when  the  street  is  a  school  which  has  no  conscience. 
Oh,  for  that  accent  of  religious  teaching  which  shall 
make  functions  assume  their  royal  place  and  save 
them  from  degradation!  We  have  no  right  to  leave 
out  the  Seventh  commandment  in  our  vigorous  deal- 
ing with  the  other  nine. 

This  physical  teaching  means  also  a  knowledge  of 
labor  and  exercise  and  activity.  One  has  no  need, 
perhaps,  except  in  rare  instances,  to  be  a  leader  in 
athletic  sports;  yet  perchance  we  err  in  not  setting 
something  of  an  example  in  the  shape  of  a  balanced 
body,  a  vigorous  love  of  nature  and  air  and  exercise, 
a  battle  against  "sickly  groaning"  and  nervous  pros- 
tration, and  weariness,  and  all  such  ilk  which  the  mod- 
em parson  too  readily  affects  or  to  which  he  lends 
himself  an  easy  victim,  and  on  Monday  with  his  sighs 
contradicts  his  Sunday  prayers.  Religion  bids  to  a 
cheer,  a  healthy  love  of  action,  a  fine  capacity  for 
toil  and  a  love  of  it.  Nor  should  the  brain  be  left  out. 
We  should  teach  concerning  good  reading  and  study 
and  thought.  We  should  warn  against  the  pernicious 
20th  century  novel  —  a  mixture  of  sentimentalism 
and  grossness  —  we  should  line  out  the  methods  and 
the  material  for  intelligent  brain  food;  we  should 
urge  to  higher  education,  and  make  clear  how  God 
calls  for  wisdom  to  solve  life's  problems,  as  well  as  tact 
and  common  sense  in  the  ordinary  service.  Glorious 
old  body,  how  it  stands  as  the  visible  feature  of  manli- 
ness and  womanliness  in  the  thought  of  a  true  hero! 
How  it  throbs  with  all  tender  emotions  and  all  brave 
victories!  How  it  appeals  to  the  world  even  more 
than  any  theology  appeals  or  can  appeal  when  the 
Christian  puts  on  his  armor  and  goes  out  as  a  knight 
to  succor  and  to  fight!     No  man  is  a  true  Bible  stu- 


238     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

dent  to  whom  Gideon  and  Deborah,  Jonathan  and 
Isaiah,  Peter  and  Paul,  do  not  appeal  as  beings  made 
great  not  only  through  soul-life  but  through  physical 
life.  And  he  is  the  good  pastor  who  makes  his  young 
tingle  with  healthy  ambition  and  strong  daring,  and 
true  thought  and  lofty  ideals  and  glorious  visions  as 
they  face  the  world  which  they  are  to  win  for  their 
Christ! 

4,  Social  duties.  And  now,  in  closing,  we  come 
to  a  theme  which  in  these  days  of  close  union  between 
nations  and  men  is  an  essential  of  Christian  education. 
The  world  is  akin  to-day  as  never  before,  and  the  good 
of  one  and  the  evil  of  one  are  the  good  and  evil  of  all. 
"  To  neglect  the  state  is  to  neglect  the  Kingdom, "  some 
fine  writer  has  declared.  For  however  spiritual  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  may  be  in  its  final  essence,  it  is 
established  on  the  earth  and  has  to  do  with  the  wel- 
fare of  humanity  in  accord  with  God's  righteous  will. 
We  have  learned  at  last  —  for  it  has  been  a  slow  pro- 
cess of  education  —  that  only  he  is  ready  to  die  who  is 
ready  to  live,  and  that  to  live  truly  is  to  seek  an  ad- 
vance in  all  human  interests  towards  God's  righteous- 
ness. The  state,  the  city,  the  community,  form  the 
environment  in  which  man  is  to  work  out  his  salvation 
in  establishing  Christ's  salvation.  To  neglect  his  duty 
towards  these  is  to  reject  the  grace  of  God.  How 
necessary,  therefore,  to  teach  the  youth,  even  in  early 
years,  the  principles  of  citizenship !  How  necessary  to 
outline  the  purpose  and  needs  of  the  state  and 
the  municipality  as  well  as  to  explain  the  will  of  God 
in  accord  with  the  ten  commandments.  Rebel  as  we 
will  because  of  the  unattractiveness  of  the  Augean 
stables,  we  must  plunge  into  politics  to-day  if  we  would 
save  our  own  souls.  And  we  must  cause  to  arise  a 
generation  of  patriots  who  will  despise  sycophancy 
and  plunder  and  bribery  and  wholesale  theft  as  they 


THE   PASTOR  AS  A  TEACHER  239 

will  despise  personal  selfishness  and  personal  impurity. 
And  it  is  not  a  difficult  task,  though  we  must  wait 
for  a  generation  for  the  fruit  to  come.  Children  are 
naturally  patriotic.  The  flag  and  the  peace  of  nations 
appeal  to  their  imagination,  their  emotions,  and  their 
innate  sense  of  honor.  The  pastor  who  educates  his 
children  as  he  ought  in  the  first  principles  need  not 
be  an  expert  in  constitutional  law.  All  he  has  to  do 
is  to  press  home  the  social  duties  which  appeal  in- 
stinctively to  boys  and  girls  alike.  All  he  has  to  do  is 
to  show  the  inevitable  connection  between  love  for  God 
and  love  for  man.  It  is  ever  the  common-sense  method 
of  the  common-sense  man  that  accomplishes  most, 
and  the  pastor  who  is  a  loyal  citizen  —  and  no  other 
should  hold  place  in  our  churches  —  is  bound  to  have  a 
constituency  of  splendid  youth  who  reverence  loyalty 
in  time  of  peace  as  much  as  in  time  of  war. 

We  must  go  a  little  farther  in  this  matter,  however, 
than  simply  to  teach  the  honesty  which  is  demanded 
in  public  affairs.  The  common  law  as  regards  educa- 
tion, poverty,  tenement-house  reform,  child-labor, 
sweat-shop  work,  hospitals,  day  nurseries,  play-grounds, 
summer  schools,  fresh-air  outings,  has  a  call  as  mighty 
as  the  political  arena.  Why  should  not  the  minister 
avoid  the  future  continuance  of  the  apathy  so  sadly 
common  in  the  present  amongst  our  people,  and  raise 
up  a  generation  of  reformers  and  workers  by  sending 
home  the  alphabetical  truths  of  holy  living  and  un- 
selfish service,  linking  them  with  the  prayers  and  the 
worship  of  the  youth  as  naturally  as  eating  and 
sleeping  are  united  to  the  health  of  body,  or  reading 
and  thinking  to  the  health  of  the  mind  ?  He  is  not  a 
good  shepherd  who  does  not  lead  his  lambs  to  the 
high  ground  that  they  may  breathe  new  impulses  and 
see  visions  of  a  coming  Canaan.  No  routine  Bible 
study  dealing  with  history  and  text  and  somewhat 


2  40     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER  ' 

wild,  because  unpractical,  internal  criticism,  is  going 
to  fill  the  duty  of  the  parson  to-day.  The  "parish- 
priest  of  the  town"  as  Dr.  Gott  happily  phrases  it, 
must  be  the  true  enthusiast  who  shall  open  broad 
lines  of  service  and  invite  his  flock  to  enter  in  and 
possess  the  land,  driving  out  the  base  usurpers  of  the 
Lord's  heritage,  and  establishing  the  Kingdom  which 
the  Almighty   demands. 

When  once  this  teaching-power  of  the  pastor  is 
recognized  I  believe  a  new  era  will  dawn.  Christianity 
has  never  yet  realized  her  might.  Our  religion  could 
easily  rule  the  world  if  it  were  genuine  enough.  Why 
not  accept  plain  facts  and  evident  duties,  and  make 
the  next  generation  a  generation  of  Christian  masters, 
and  let  the  church  come  to  her  own  as  the  leader  and 
ruler  of  righteousness  under  Grod  ? 


RELIGIOUS    PSYCHOLOGY    AND    EDUCATION 
IN  THE  THEOLOGICAL  CURRICULUM* 

GEORGE  ALBERT  COE,   Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR    NORTHWESTERN    UNIVERSITY,    EVANSTON,    ILLINOIS 

I  understand  the  topic  assigned  to  me  as  the  proper 
or  ideal  place  of  religious  psychology  and  education 
in  the  theological  curriculum.  It  is  no  necessary 
part  of  my  task  to  say  how  far  short  of  this  ideal  the 
theological  seminaries  of  the  present  come.  I  desire, 
indeed,  that  no  word  of  mine  shall  be  understood  as 
condemnation,  but  only  as  encouragement  to  further 
effort.  I  shall  assume,  further,  that  we  have  in  mind 
the  ideal  curriculum  for  future  pastors,  not  for  those 
who  are  to  spend  their  life  in  research. 

The  answer  to  our  question  depends  upon  our 
conception  of  the  goal  toward  which  the  church,  under 

*  The  opening  of  a  discussion  of  this  subject. 


THEOLOGICAL   CURRICULUM  241 

the  guidance  of  its  pastors,  is  to  work.  This  goal  is 
nothing  less  than  the  transformation  of  the  world- 
mind  or  world-consciousness.  The  subject  of  re- 
demption, as  Canon  Fremantle  said,  is  the  world. 
The  pastor  is  not  merely  to  proclaim  Christian  truth; 
not  merely  to  rescue  a  sinner  here  and  there;  not 
merely  to  maintain  the  chiu^ch;  he  is  to  guide  a 
part  of  the  general  world-campaign  which  aims  at  se- 
curing control  of  all  the  resources  of  the  world.  The 
proper  work  of  the  pastor  is  aggressive,  not  defensive, 
and  only  when  it  is  conceived  in  this  large  sense  as 
part  of  a  world-scheme  can  it  meet  the  local  needs. 

Suppose  that  this  task  of  world-conversion  were 
committed  to  one  of  our  gigantic  modem  business 
corporations,  and  that  the  profits  of  the  stockholders 
depended  upon  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  Imagine 
this  corporation  thoroughly  organized  in  all  its  parts, 
and  facing  such  a  problem.  What  would  be  its  policy  ? 
Rather,  how  would  it  determine  its  policy?  How, 
in  fact,  do  our  great  business  organizations  proceed? 
First,  by  obtaining  expert  knowledge  of  the  material 
within  which  given  effects  are  to  be  secured.  Mining 
corporations  employ  assayers  to  determine  the  com- 
position of  ores  and  economical  methods  of  reduction ; 
an  army  of  chemists,  physicists,  and  engineers  is  en- 
gaged in  telling  steel  corporations,  oil  corporations, 
electrical  corporations,  and  many  others,  just  what 
are  the  composition  and  the  structure  of  various  ma- 
terials. We  are  reaching  a  time,  in  fact,  in  which  we 
shall  not  assume  to  know  how  to  raise  potatoes  until 
we  have  studied  soils  as  well  as  varieties  of  seed. 

The  material  within  which  the  chiirch  is  to  work  is 
the  mind  of  man.  How,  then,  can  our  leaders  suppose 
that  they  are  prepared  for  their  work  before  they 
have  studied  the  mind  of  man  in  its  relation  to  the 
Christian   experience   and   life?     I   plead   for  expert 


242     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

Christian  work!  Why  should  we  not  make  a  business 
of  converting  the  world,  in  the  modem  sense  of  the 
term  business?  I  believe  that  we  may  reasonably 
demand  that  a  theological  diploma  shall  represent 
expert  acquaintance  with  the  material  and  the  pro- 
cesses with  which  the  pastor  has  to  do.  It  is  so  in 
other  professions.  A  medical  diploma,  though  it  be 
no  guarantee  of  success,  is  good  evidence  that  its 
holder  knows  the  rudiments  of  anatomy,  physiol- 
ogy, pathology  and  materia  medica.  A  diploma  in 
engineering  is  a  guarantee  that  its  holder  has  met  face 
to  face  the  materials  of  his  profession  and  knows  how 
to  test  them.  I  leave  you  to  say  whether  graduation 
from  a  theological  seminary  implies  any  parallel  ac- 
quaintance with  the  materials  and  processes  of  the 
pastor's  occupation.  If  it  is  not  so,  how  can  we  jus- 
tify ourselves  ?  Is  the  human  soul  a  less  precious  stuff, 
is  it  more  easily  understood  than  ores,  and  metals, 
and  electricity  ? 

From  this  point  of  view  it  appears  that  every  theo- 
logical student  should  be  required  to  study,  first, 
general  psychology  (or  else  present  a  college  credit 
for  the  same) ;  second,  the  psychology  of  religion. 
The  history  of  religion  is  to  be  treated  not  chiefly  as 
a  succession  of  religious  ideas,  but  rather  as  a  growing 
religious  experience.  Religious  conversion  and  growth 
are  to  be  thought  of  not  merely  as  a  divine  infusion 
in  the  life  of  men,  but  also  as  mental  processes  occurring 
under  discoverable  conditions  that  are  largely  within 
our  control.  When  morbid  religious  conditions,  ex- 
pressive in  many  cases  of  disturbed  physiological 
functions,  present  themselves  to  the  pastor,  he  should 
be  ready  to  trace  them  to  their  source.  Not  less, 
when  a  child  or  a  youth  comes  under  his  care,  he  should 
know  with  reasonable  definiteness  what  are  both  the 
normal  and  the  more  common  abnormal  moral  and 
spiritual  states  at  each  stage  of  growth. 


THEOLOGICAL  CURRICULUM  243 

This  brings  me  to  the  second  part  of  the  topic,  the 
place  of  religious  education  in  the  theological  curricu- 
lum. Its  place  is  to  be  determined  by  the  relation  of 
child-development  to  the  transformation  of  the  world- 
consciousness  that  Christianity  undertakes.  I  do  not 
see  how  any  practical  man  can  doubt  that  the  possi- 
bility of  any  such  transformation  depends  primarily 
upon  the  church's  securing  control  of  the  children. 
You  can  never  transform  the  world  by  the  merely 
remedial  process  of  converting  men.  Let  not  the 
work  of  converting  sinners  be  neglected,  but  do  not 
forget  the  supply!  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the 
chief  work  of  the  church,  and  therefore  of  pastors, 
(under  our  present  form  of  organization)  is  religious 
education. 

What  preparation  must  the  pastor  have  for  this 
work?  Of  course  he  will  necessarily  gather  the  best 
part  of  his  training,  if  he  is  a  wise  man,  from  his  own 
experience.  But  he  should  not  be  obliged  to  assume 
the  responsibilities  of  a  pastor  of  children  without 
specific  training  with  reference  to  their  needs.  First, 
he  should  be  held  to  the  study  of  the  psychology  of 
child-development,  with  especial  reference  to  religious 
and  moral  development.  Second,  he  should  be  re- 
quired to  study  the  general  principles  of  education, 
and  also  the  particular  methods  of  religious  education. 
He  should  understand  the  grading  of  pupils,  and  like- 
wise the  grading  of  material.  He  should  be  familiar 
with  the  methods  of  conducting  a  recitation,  and  with 
the  special  methods  applicable  to  Sunday  school,  young 
people's  society,  and  the  home.  Third,  he  should  be 
required  to  do  practise  teaching. 

The  time  is  here,  in  fact,  when  a  theological  seminary 
may  reasonably  be  expected  to  provide  laboratory 
methods  for  studying  the  practical  phases  of  a  pas- 
tor's work.     Just  as  the  candidate  for  a  diploma  in 


244     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

engineering  must  actually  ascertain  for  himself  the 
strength  of  various  materials,  so  the  candidate  for 
the  pastorate  should  engage  in  actual  evangelistic 
work  under  the  direction  of  an  experienced  teacher. 
In  such  work  the  pupil  should  find  material  for  the 
study  of  the  psychology  of  religion.  He  should 
learn  to  distinguish  between  normal  and  abnormal 
cases,  and  always  to  discern  the  relation  of  cause  to 
effect.  Similarly,  the  theological  student  should  be 
required  to  teach  children  of  various  ages,  but  always 
under  competent  guidance  from  an  expert.  This 
should  be  required,  even  though  most  pastors  will  not 
be  teachers  of  classes  in  the  Sunday  school,  for  the 
pastor,  as  head  of  the  local  church,  must  be  able  to 
know  what  constitutes  good  teaching,  and  whether  a 
given  Sunday  school  or  young  people's  society  is  reas- 
onably efficient. 

This  is  a  high  standard,  but  not  an  impossible  one, 
nor  even  an  impracticable  one.  When  we  make  a 
business  of  saving  the  world,  we  shall  wonder  that  we 
ever  contented  ourselves  with  a  lower  standard. 


WHY  COLLEGE  MEN  DO  NOT  GO   INTO  THE 
MINISTRY 

SHAILER  MATHEWS,   D.D. 

DEAN,    THE    DIVINITY    SCHOOL,    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    CHICAGO, 
CHICAGO,    ILL. 

The  decline  in  the  number  of  college  men  who  enter 
the  ministry  has  been  accounted  for  in  a  variety  of 
ways.  In  general  these  explanations  have  embodied 
the  impressions  of  men  who  are  somewhat  intimately 
connected  with  college  students  and  the  churches. 
At  the  same  time,  they  have  been  to  a  considerable 
degree  colored  by  the  opinions  of  the  propounders 


COLLEGE   MEN  AND   THE   MINISTRY      245 

themselves.  The  situation  is  one  that  does  indeed  show 
certain  signs  of  improvement.  Statistics  gathered 
from  various  denominations  show  slight  increase 
in  present  enrollment  over  last  year  in  the  case  of 
Congregationalists,  Presbyterians,  and  Methodists.  The 
Episcopalians  and  Baptists  show  decrease.  The  vari- 
ations, however,  are  so  slight  as  not  to  warrant  any 
general  conclusions  until  the  figures  are  completed 
by  a  record  of  some  years.  Even  should  the  present 
ratio  be  increased  by  any  upward  movement  of  the 
curve  the  present  attendance  as  compared  with  that  in 
seminaries  in  1895  and  1896  would  still  merit  serious 
attention.  If  the  cause  of  the  ministry  is  to  be  brought 
home  to  yoting  men  in  our  colleges  the  actual  reasons 
which  have  prevented  college  men  from  undertaking 
theological  training  should  be  carefully  studied,  not 
in  the  way  of  vague  impression,  but  in  that  of  actual 
investigation. 

As  a  step  in  this  direction  it  was  determined  by 
the  Committee  of  this  Department  to  ask  young  men 
prominent  in  Christian  activities  in  colleges  to  state, 
confidentially  the  reasons  which  led  them  to  choose 
some  field  of  life-work  other  than  that  of  the  ministry. 
Accordingly  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  Yale,  Brown,  Amherst, 
Harvard,  Bowdoin,  Dartmouth,  and  the  University  of 
Chicago  were  asked  to  furnish  a  list  of  such  young  men, 
and  to  them  the  following  letter  was  sent. 

My  Dear  Sir: 

As  >rou  are  doubtless  well  aware,  there  is  a  decided  decrease  in  the  number  of 
men  going  from  our  colleges  to  theological  seminaries  and  the  ministry.  There 
must  be  some  reason  for  this  sitiiation,  and  if  so,  some  cure. 

The  Department  of  Theological  Seminaries  of  the  Religious  Education  Asso- 
ciation wishes  to  give  this  matter  of  cure  careful  consideration.  For  that  reason 
we  are  writing  to  a  number  of  strong.  Christian  men — recent  graduates  who  have 
not  entered  tne  ministry — to  discover,  if  possible,  from  them  the  real  reasons  for 
their  not  considering,  or  at  least  not  entering  upon,  the  ministry  as  a  phase  of 
Christian  work. 

You  will,  I  am  sure,  understand  that  this  question  is  not  asked  with  any  wish 
to  intrude  upon  the  personal  considerations  which  may  have  determined  your 
course,  or  to  imply  any  criticism  whatever  upon  your  decision,  but  solely  with  the 
hope  that  your  experience  may  help  us  discover  what  blame  may  belong  to  the 
seminaries  and  to  the  theological  course  for  the  decline  in  the  number  of  earnest 
and  able  college  men  who  enter  the  ministry. 

I  do  not  need  to  tell  you  that  no  names  will  be  used  in  our  consideration  of  the 
matter.    If  you  prefer,  you  need  not  sign  this  blank.    I  ask  you,  however,  as  a 


246     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

special  favor  to  the  Religious  Education  Association — as  well  as  to  the  church — 
to  write  briefly  on  the  back  of  thb  sheet  the  reasons  which,  in  your  case,  led  you 
to  decide  not  to  enter  the  ministry  but  to  choose  some  other  profession. 

(Signed) 

Shailer  Mathews. 

Altogether  158  persons  were  thus  addressed.  Of 
these  fifty-eight  replied.  Of  these  fifty-eight,  one 
had  gone  to  a  theological  seminary,  and  one  was  in  the 
ministry.  We  have,  therefore,  fifty-six  replies  from 
young  men  sufficiently  widely  scattered  to  serve  as  a 
basis  for  induction. 

Undoubtedly  more  precise  statistics  could  have 
been  obtained  if  a  series  of  questions  in  questionnaire 
fashion  had  been  sent.  The  difficulty  with  such 
questions,  however,  is  that  they  are  likely  to  suggest 
replies,  and  so  to  be  less  accurate  than  the  results  of 
more  informal  inquiry. 

Some  of  the  letters  which  have  been  received  in 
response  to  the  circular  letter  are.  written  with  some 
fulness  and  all  specify  a  large  number  of  reasons.  The 
work  of  classification  of  these  reasons  has  been  to  a 
certain  extent  an  interpretation  on  the  writer's  part, 
from  the  fact  that  no  two  men  express  themselves  in 
exactly  the  same  words.  At  the  same  time  the  mo- 
tives are  very  frankly  stated,  and  may  be  classified 
roughly.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  young 
man  seldom  gave  one  reason.  Generally  he  gave 
several.     Of  these  reasons  the  following  is  a  resume : 

1.  Lack  of  ministerial  gift     24 

2.  Desire  for  personal  advancement  or  comfort  .  .  13 

3.  Larger  opportunity  in  business  life  than  in  the 
ministry    14 

4.  Fear  of  restriction  upon  thought 8 

5.  The  church  out  of  touch  with  its  age 9 

6.  Religious  doubt    2 

7.  Unworthy  men  in  the  ministry    7 

8.  Family  obligations   6 

9.  Unworthy  ministerial  students 6 


COLLEGE   MEN   AND   THE   MINISTRY       247 

TO.  Superiority  of  Y.  M.  C.  A 3 

T I .  Claim  of  the  ministry  was  never  presented ....  4 

1 2 .  Faults  of  theological  education    5 

13.  Unwillingness  to  face  new  theological  views    .  .  i 

In  the  last  case,  however,  the  estimate  is  one  passed 
by  the  student  on  other  men. 

It  will  be  apparent,  therefore,  that  the  predominant 
reason  is  that  of  conscious  unfitness  for  the  ministerial 
office  and  desire  to  enter  another  calling  such  as 
Y.M.C.A.,  or  teaching,  or  business,  or  law.  In  one  or 
two  cases  the  men  are  going  into  the  Student  Volun- 
teer movement,  but  are  not  planning  to  become  min- 
isters or  to  take  a  theological  education. 

A  careful  reading  of  the  letters  indicates  further 
that  the  small  salary  of  a  minister  is  a  considerable 
hindrance,  although  not  always  expressly  stated  as 
such.  One  student  writes  of  "many  reasons,  each 
sufficient,  but  in  addition  and  alone  more  than  suffi- 
cient, inadequate,  unbusinesslike  methods  and  un- 
reasonable demands  of  most  religious  and  other  un- 
selfish organizations." 

One  very  interesting  letter  reads  as  follows: 

1.  "  My  conviction  on  questions  of  theology  would 
not  allow  me  to  subscribe  to  the  creed  of  the  church 
far  enough  to  secure  me  admission  to  the  ministry  of  an 
evangelical  church,  the  church  of  my  parents. 

2.  The  church  and  the  ministry  are  not  in  touch 
with  real  life,  persisting  in  formulas  and  methods  fitted 
for  an  age  now  past,  not  for  the  ideals  of  social  service 
now  growing. 

3.  Theological  students  are  given  too  much  fi- 
nancial assistance  to  attract  self-respecting  men  and 
to  keep  them  independent.  Salaries  are  too  low  in  the 
ministry  to  insure  means  of  growth  and  this  is  too 
often  regarded  as  charity.  " 


248     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

Other  letters  are  as  follows  : 

No.  I. 
"i.     Inability  to  honestly  preach  to  or  identify  my- 
self with,  any  one  denomination. 

2.  Not  possessing  an  independent  income  large 
enough  to  satisfy  my  tastes,  which  could  not  be  sat- 
isfied by  the  ordinary  minister's  salary. 

3.  The  impossibility  of  having  a  place  which  I 
could  really  call  home,  for  a  minister  is  continually 
moving. 

4.  By  seeing  those  men  in  college  who  stood  for 
very  little  among  their  classmates  choosing  the  min- 
istry for  their  profession.  This  was  so  in  my  class 
with  probably  one  exception." 

No.  2. 
"  My  opinion  is  that  the  cause  for  the  fact  which 
you  mention  is  to  be  found  chiefly  in  the  moral  and 
intellectual  evasions  and  inconsistencies  of  the  men 
who  are  already  in  the  ministry.  This  fact  has  all  but 
ttimed  me  aside. 

1.  The  pay  of  a  clergyman  is  not  sufficient  to 
meet   average   expenses. 

2.  The  narrowness  of  many  of  our  present-day 
clergymen  is  hindering  many  a  good  man  from  re- 
sponding to  the  call,  selfish  as  it  may  seem. 

3.  Men  are  believing  that  they  can  have  more  in- 
dependence, as  well  as  accomplishing  just  as  much 
good  in  other  callings,  and  that  too  without  attracting 
attention." 

No.  3. 

"I  entered  business  rather  than  the  ministry  be- 
cause I  believed  the  business  world  possessed  as  large 
and  perhaps  broader  field  for  Christian  activity  and 
the  exercise  of  Christian  principles  than  the  purely 
ministerial    field.     Business    life,    however,    was    my 


COLLEGE   MEN  AND   THE   MINISTRY      249 

choice  and  preference  and  above-stated  reason  was 
more  a  substantiation  of  my  choice  than  the  ftmda- 
mental  groimd  for  my  decision." 

The  general  impression  made  upon  me  by  these  let- 
ters is  rather  depressing.  The  institutions  from  which 
the  writers  have  graduated  are  sending  an  exceedingly 
small  number  of  men  into  the  ministry.  The  quality 
of  these  men  can  be  judged  only  by  general  impressions 
as  yet,  although  it  is  my  plan  to  continue  the  inquiry- 
further  by  examination  of  the  list  of  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
men  to  see  how  many  of  that  society  have  entered  the 
ministry.  My  general  impression  at  this  point  is  that 
the  ministerial  students  are  coming  from  the  upper 
half  of  student  bodies,  but  do  not  include  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  leaders  in  college  life.  This  im- 
pression, however,  is  not  based  on  statistics  as  yet, 
but  upon  general  inquiry,  and  my  own  experience 
extending  now  across  something  like  twenty  years. 

This,  fact,  however,  does  not  seem  to  me  so  serious 
as  the  two  or  three  generalizations  which  these  fifty- 
six  letters  permit  and  indeed  compel. 

1.  There  is  in  our  colleges  a  growing  anti-minis- 
terial atmosphere.  To  a  considerable  extent,  as  we 
all  know,  this  has  been  due  for  the  past  generation  to 
the  character  and  conduct  of  the  ministerial  students 
themselves,  and  partly  to  that  distrust  of  anything 
savoring  of  professional  piety  which  is  a  character- 
istic of  college  men. 

2.  There  is  a  growing  distrust  of  the  church  as  a 
social  institution. 

3.  There  is  a  lack  of  heroic  abandonment  on  the 
part  of  young  men  to  a  calling  of  self-sacrificing  service. 

4.  There  is  a  suspicion  that  a  man  cannot  have 
freedom  of  thought  in  churches  and  that  he  cannot 
honestly  think  and  teach  inside  the  limits  set  by  authori- 
tative creed  of  a  given  church. 


2SO     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

5.  The  evidence  of  the  decrease  of  religious  faith  on 
the  part  of  these  young  men  is  all  but  absent.  Every 
one  of  them  is  anxious  to  have  a  share  in  religious 
activities  and  to  live  his  own  religious  life. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  failure  of  our  col- 
lege men  to  enter  the  ministry  is  due  to  causes  deeply 
rooted  in  our  religious  life  and  fundamentally  to  an 
unwillingness  to  enter  the  ministry  as  such.  The  church, 
in  other  words,  does  not  appeal  to  them  as  furnishing  a 
career. 

If,  therefore,  there  are  to  be  any  steps  taken  to  in- 
duce strong  college  men  to  enter  the  ministry,  there 
must  be  concerted  effort  (i)  to  place  before  them  the 
legitimacy  of  the  ministry;  (2)  to  bring  about  a 
deepening  of  their  spiritual  lives  to  the  point  of  sur- 
render of  financial  and  other  advantages;  (3)  to  ap- 
peal to  the  heroic  elements  of  their  characters;  and 
(4)  to  emphasize  the  opportunities  and  call  of  the 
ministry  along  the  same  lines  as  those  which  have 
been  followed  by  the  advocates  of  the  Volunteer  move- 
ment. 

The  facts  warrant  no  assurance  that  the  situation 
will  right  itself  without  such  effort.  Religious  revivals 
are  not  as  yet  to  my  knowledge  resulting  in  an  in- 
crease of  college  students  for  the  ministry,  however 
much  they  may  serve  to  increase  the  numbers  of  young 
men  who  enter  training  schools  and  institutions  of 
less  than  college  grade.  The  influence  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
in  colleges  if  not  anti-ministerial  is  toward  the  em- 
phasis of  the  larger  opportunities  of  the  Christian 
layman.  In  other  words,  we  are  reaping  the  result 
of  our  persistent  emphasis  on  the  teaching  that  there 
is  no  distinction  between  the  ministry  of  secular  em- 
ployment and  the  ministry  as  a  calling.  Until  we 
can  rehabilitate  the  ministerial  office  with  its  proper 
dignity  and  show  to  young  men  that  they  can  actually 


EDUCATION   OF   BOYS  AND    YOUNG   MEN      251 

be  of  more  religious  service  within  it  than  outside  it 
the  situation  is  Hkely  to  remain  unchanged.  The 
answers  to  these  inquiries  show  that  the  causes  for  the 
decline  in  the  number  of  college  men  entering  the  min- 
istry lie  in  a  weakness  within  the  church  itself.  To 
cure  it  we  must  begin  in  the  family  and  the  church. 


SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  A  CURRICULUM 
FOR  THE  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  EDUCA- 
TION OF  BOYS  AND  YOUNG  MEN  UNDER 
THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  YOUNG 
MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION 

CLYDE   W.   VOTAW,   Ph.D., 

PROFESSOR,    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    CHICAGO,    CHICAGO,    ILLINOIS 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  the 
opportunity  of  becoming  one  of  the  chief  educational 
institutions  and  agencies  of  America  in  its  work  for 
the  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  boys  and  young 
men  through  adolescence.  Only  a  small  per  cent  of 
boys  above  the  age  of  thirteen  receive  any  formal 
education.  The  high  schools  and  academies  reach 
comparatively  few.  *  The  church,  which  is  the  other 
great  educational  institution,  is  doing  little  that  is 
systematic  for  the  adolescent  boys  and  young  men. 
There  is  an  open  field  here,  therefore,  and  there  is  no 
greater  work  before  us,  none  that  promises  quicker 
or  finer  results  for  the  effort  put  forth. 

Those  who  have  at  heart  the  moral  and  religious 
welfare  of  the  rising  generation  of  boys  have  observed 
with  intense  satisfaction  the  development  within 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  the  purpose 

♦According  to  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  United 
States  for  1906,  there  were  in  our  country  about  12,000,000  boys  of  school  age 
(5-18  years).  Of  this  whole  number,  only  two  thirds  actually  attended  school.  In 
the  "secondary  schools"  (high  schools  and  academies)  there  were  only  about 
400,000  boys. 


252     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

and  plan  to  work  for  boys  as  well  as  yoiing  men.  The 
leaders  of  this  movement  have  shown  wisdom  and 
ability  for  the  task  by  their  intelligent  grasp  of  the 
situation,  by  their  growing  knowledge  of  the  moral 
and  religious  status  of  adolescent  boys,  by  their  recog- 
nition that  the  whole  boy  needs  training  —  therefore, 
physical,  mental,  moral,  and  religious  training  are  not 
to  be  separated  —  and  by  the  intention  now  manifest 
to  systematize  the  educational  work. 

The  arrangement  of  the  instruction  and  training 
conducted  by  the  Association  according  to  a  logical, 
orderly  plan  gives  what  would  be  technically  called  a 
"curriculum."  The  work  is  systematized  into  a  series 
of  courses  of  instruction  and  training  to  be  pursued  by 
the  boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age  successively 
until  the  series  is  completed;  and  at  his  completion 
of  them  the  Association  will  have  provided  the  boy 
through  his  adolescent  years  with  the  best  possible 
atmosphere,  niuture,  knowledge,  and  opportunity  for 
physical,  mental,  moral,  and  religious  growth. 

In  the  preparation  of  such  a  curriculum  it  is  neces- 
sary to  consider  at  least  the  following  seven  things :  i , 
the  characteristics  of  those  for  whom  it  is  intended;  2, 
the  particular  instruction  and  training  which  it  is  de- 
sired the  curriculum  may  furnish;  3,  the  amount  of 
time  that  is  available ;  4,  the  teaching  staff  that  can  be 
depended  upon;  5,  the  topics  of  the  several  courses; 
6,  the  teaching  materials  and  methods  to  be  em- 
ployed; 7,  the  arrangement  of  the  courses  in  a 
developmental   order. 

I.  The  groups  of  boys  and  young  men  that  will 
be  reached  by  the  local  Associations  will  differ  con- 
siderably in  characteristics,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  particular  localities.  In  some  places,  as  in  good 
resident  towns  or  districts,  the  boys  will  be  chiefly 
from  good  homes,  in  attendance  upon  high  school  or 


EDUCATION  OF   BOYS  AND   YOUNG  MEN      253 

college,  and  in  many  cases  also  in  attendance  upon 
Sunday  school.  In  other  places,  as  in  manufacturing 
towns  or  the  humbler  portions  of  great  cities,  the  boys 
will  be  chiefly  from  poor  homes,  or  entirely  away  from 
home,  engaged  in  employment  of  some  kind  instead 
of  in  school,  and  in  most  cases  without  Sunday-school 
influence.  These  are  the  two  extremes.  Generally 
an  Association  will  have  a  mixed  group  of  boys  and 
young  men,  some  from  good  homes,  some  from  poor 
homes,  some  without  homes,  some  in  high  school, 
some  at  work,  some  in  attendance  upon  Sunday  school, 
some  otherwise. 

It  will  not  be  an  easy  matter  to  devise  a  single 
curriculum  to  meet  the  specific  conditions  and  needs 
of  a  mixed  group.  But  I  doubt  whether  it  would  be 
practicable  or  wise  in  many  Associations  to  divide 
the  boys  into  two  groups  —  schoolboys  and  working 
boys,  and  to  conduct  a  separate  curriculum  for  each 
group.  Indeed,  to  put  the  schoolboys  and  the  work- 
ing boys  into  close  relation  with  one  another  on  the 
same  plane  and  in  the  same  courses  of  study  and 
training  would  to  my  mind  be  the  best  thing  that 
could  happen  to  both  groups.  The  working  boy  needs 
social  and  intellectual  contact  with  the  schoolboy, 
and  no  less  does  the  schoolboy  need  to  get  into  touch 
with  those  who  work  for  their  living  and  deal  first- 
hand with  the  stem  realities  of  existence.  What 
surer  way  could  be  found  to  break  up  the  stratification 
between  education  and  industry,  and  to  show  that 
manhood,  intelligence,  and  usefulness  are  not  the 
exclusive  possession  of  the  wealthy  or  cultured  class? 

(jenerally,  then,  a  single  curriculum  will  be  the  best. 
And  the  average  Association  will  be  likely  to  find  its 
resources  taxed  to  conduct  even  so  much.  A  single 
currictilum  extending  over  the  years  from  twelve  to 
twenty-four  would  mean,  when  in  full  operation,  twelve 


254     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

courses  going  on  simultaneously  throughout  the  year. 
The  courses  should  be  so  selected,  arranged,  and  con- 
ducted as  to  meet  the  conditions  and  needs  of  the 
particular  groups  of  boys  that  form  their  constituency. 
A  curriculum  fails  at  those  points  and  to  that  degree  in 
which  it  lacks  complete  adaptation  to  the  individuals 
who  pass  through  it.  The  adaptation,  however,  de- 
pends not  so  much  upon  the  general  subjects  of  the 
courses  as  upon  the  concrete  working  out  of  each  course 
by  the  teacher  with  the  specific  group  of  boys. 

2.  What  shall  this  curriculum  of  instruction  and 
training  aim  to  do  for  the  boys  and  young  men?  It 
should  aim : 

(i)     To  arouse  and  develop  the  moral  purpose. 

(2)  To  inform  and  train  the  moral  judgment. 

(3)  To  give  acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  physical 
and  mental  health,  and  to  secure  their  observance. 

(4)  To  inculcate  self-respect,  and  the  dignity  and 
worth  of  manhood. 

(5)  To  establish  right  habits  of  thought  on  social 
and  civic  problems. 

(6)  To  cultivate  right  feelings  in  all  relations  of  life. 

(7)  To  develop  and  train  the  will  to  right  motives 
and  choices  for  individual  and  social  welfare. 

(8)  To  stimulate  and  direct  the  social  impulses. 

(9)  To  promote  the  growth  and  expression  of 
brotherliness  within  the  class  group,  within  the  Associ- 
ation membership,  and  within  enlarging  circles  until 
all  men  are  included. 

(10)  To  give  wide,  practical,  first-hand  knowledge 
of  present-day  moral,  social,  industrial,  and  political 
conditions,  needs,  and  opportunities,  as  a  basis  and  in- 
spiration of  efficient  activity  for  human  betterment. 

(11)  To  conduct  actual  practice  work  in  social 
service. 

(12)  To  awaken  the  religious  nature,  to  develop 


EDUCATION   OF  BOYS  AND   YOUNG  MEN      255 

reverence  and  faith,  aspiration  and  prayer,  love  and 
self -committal  to  God,  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  ideal 
of  life  which  the  Bible  teaches  us. 

I  feel  quite  sure  that  these  things  should  be  included 
in  the  aim  of  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
curriculum.  There  may  be  many  other  desirable  ele- 
ments also.  I  have  not  included  a  knowledge  of  Bib- 
lical history,  geography,  archaeology,  and  literature  be- 
cause these  seem  to  belong  rather  to  the  home  and  to  the 
Sunday  school,  according  to  the  prevailing  division  of 
labor  among  educational  agencies.  The  Bible  already 
has,  and  should  continue  to  have,  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  a  very  large  and  prominent  place 
as  a  medium  of  instruction  in  the  principles  and  ideals 
of  right  living  —  to  help  men  to  see  what  they  should  be 
and  what  they  should  live  for.  This  use  of  the  Bible  is 
what  we  may  call  a  practical  use  as  compared  with  its 
study  for  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  political, 
moral,  and  religious  history  which  it  records.  The  his- 
torical and  literary  study  of  the  Bible  may  be  given  a 
place  in  the  Association  curriculum  when  a  particular 
group  of  boys  and  young  men  are  in  need  of  this  special 
knowledge  and  cannot  acquire  it  elsewhere. 

Presumably  all  will  agree  as  to  the  general  aim  of 
the  curriculum  here  proposed.  The  difhculty  of  con- 
structing a  curriculum  lies  less  in  deciding  what  it 
ought  to  accomplish  than  in  deciding  what  courses 
should  be  planned,  how  these  should  be  arranged, 
what  lesson  material  is  available,  and  what  methods  of 
instruction  and  training  can  best  be  used. 

3.  What  should  be  the  time  scheme  of  this  cur- 
riculum ?  It  is  designed  for  boys  and  young  men  from 
twelve  to  twenty-four  years  of  age.  Should  it  then 
consist  of  a  twelve-year  program,  taking  the  boy  at 
twelve  and  carrying  him  successively  through  a  series 
of  progressively  planned  courses  of  instruction  and 


256     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

training  until  at  twenty-four  he  completes  this  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  process  of  education? 
This  would  seem  an  elaborate  undertaking.  Yet  it 
is  not  as  elaborate  as  the  public-school  system,  which 
carries  the  child  from  six  years  of  age  through  eight 
years  of  elementary  school,  four  years  of  high  school, 
four  years  of  college,  and  three  years  of  professional 
school —  19  years  in  all;  or  as  at  least  two  of  the  new 
Sunday-school  curricula,  which  provide  twenty-one 
years  of  continuous  progressive  courses,  from  the  age 
of  four  years  up  to  twenty-five. 

An  Association  curriculum  of  twelve  years'  extent 
could  be  easily  planned.  The  full  operaton  of  it,  how- 
ever, would  involve  many  persons  and  things :  a  set  of 
general  officers;  twelve  teachers;  sixty  or  more  boys 
and  young  men  of  successive  ages  and  qualifications  to 
make  up  the  classes  of  an  average  of  six  in  each ;  a  num- 
ber of  classrooms ;  printed  material  for  study  use ;  and 
miscellaneous  supplies.  The  generally  practicable  way 
to  get  an  extensive  curriculum  into  full  operation  is  to 
begin  at  the  bottom  and  organize  the  first  few  courses 
carefully;  then  each  year  these  classes  will  move  up 
one  step,  until  finally  all  the  years  are  filled.  Boys  and 
young  men  well  advanced  would  naturally  be  started 
in  on  some  of  the  upper  courses.  The  scheme  could  be 
patiently  developed  year  after  year  until  it  became 
complete. 

At  the  inception  of  a  curriculum  one  would  of  course 
be  confronted  with  the  fact  that  the  boys  and  young 
men  do  not  continue  attendance  upon  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  classes  for  any  such  length  of  time 
as  twelve  years.  I  am  told  that  three  years  is  at  present 
about  the  longest  time.  It  might  then  be  expedient  to 
start  with  a  three-year  curriculum ;  the  organization  of 
that  would  be  so  simple  that  almost  any  Association 
could  conduct  it,  and  it  could  be  repeated  every  three 


EDUCATION   OF   BOYS  AND   YOUNG   MEN      257 

years,  since  the  constituency  would  entirely  change  that 
often.  A  systematic  program  of  instruction  and 
training  extending  over  three  years  of  time  would  be  a 
large  achievement.  Subsequently,  as  opportunity 
offered,  the  curriculum  could  be  expanded  to  include 
additional  years  and  courses. 

However,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  too  much  to  hope 
that  the  inauguration  of  a  systematic  plan  of  instruction 
and  training  in  the  Association  would  gradually  build 
up  a  more  permanent  constituency  for  the  classes.  As 
the  boys  came  to  understand  that  a  longer  curriculum 
was  offered,  and  that  it  was  quite  worth  their  while  to 
continue  in  it  until  completion,  the  personnel  of  the 
classes  would  not  change  so  frequently.  The  Sunday 
schools  are  finding  that  the  provision  through  a  suc- 
cession of  years  of  good  courses  especially  designed  for 
young  people  keeps  these  boys  and  girls  in  the  schools 
beyond  the  age  at  which  formerly  the  falling  off  came. 

As  to  the  frequency  and  length  of  the  single  meet- 
ings of  a  class,  it  seems  the  general  practice  of  the  Asso- 
ciations at  present  to  hold  one  class  session  a  week,  of 
nominally  one  hour's  duration,  and  to  run  the  classes 
from  September  to  May.  This  is  no  doubt  the  wisest 
arrangement.  It  is  certainly  best  to  begin  the  year's 
work  in  September,  and  to  carry  it  through  to  May, 
when  warm  weather  calls  boys  and  men  to  outdoor 
life  and  change  from  study.  These  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  weeks  could  be  divided  into  two  terms  —  one  before 
and  one  after  the  holidays,  with  three  or  four  weeks' 
intermission ;  or  into  autumn,  winter,  and  spring  terms. 
One  meeting  a  week  is  probably  as  much  as  could  be 
carried.  An  hour's  session  means  forty  or  forty-five 
minutes  of  solid  work ;  at  each  hour  there  should  be 
opportunity  for  friendly  greeting  and  for  some  special 
feature  to  lend  interest  and  attractiveness  to  the  work. 

The  arrangement  of  the  courses  could  be  by  years, 


258     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

each  course  extending  over  thirty  to  thirty-five  weeks. 
Or  the  arrangement  could  be  by  terms,  two  or  three  to 
the  year.  Or  a  combination  of  both  methods  would  be 
possible,  having  some  annual  courses  and  some  term 
courses.  Annual  courses  would  be  simpler  and  more 
connected.  Term  courses  would  seem  less  formidable 
to  the  students,  would  give  them  a  feeling  of  more  rapid 
achievement,  and  would  lend  themselves  better  to 
printed  annotmcements. 

4.  The  teaching  staff  for  a  curriculum  would  con- 
sist, first  of  all,  of  the  regular  executive  officers ;  second, 
of  teachers  especially  engaged  and  paid  for  this  specific 
work;  third,  of  volimteer  teachers  who  offer  their  ser- 
vices to  promote  the  Association  work  in  this  way.  Ac- 
tual qualifications,  in  knowledge,  method,  and  per- 
sonal fitness,  should  be  insisted  upon;  the  work  is 
worth  doing  well.  The  educational  aim  and  spirit 
should  be  present,  characterizing  all  the  instruction 
and  training.  The  moral  and  religious  motive  and 
interest  should  dominate  all  the  work;  but  separate 
meetings  of  a  devotional  nature  might  be  depended 
upon  to  supply  some  of  the  special  religious  needs. 

5.  This  brings  us  to  consider  the  topics  of  the  sev- 
eral courses  that  are  to  make  up  the  curriculum.  It 
would  be  an  easy  thing  to  make  up  a  list  of  twelve  or 
even  twenty-four  conventional  subjects  for  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  study.  The  Bible  Study 
Circular  issued  by  the  International  Committee  an- 
nounces fifty-two  courses,  all  but  six  of  them  based 
upon  the  Old  Testament  or  the  New  Testament  (chiefly 
the  latter),  and  twenty-two  of  the  forty-six  on  Jesus 
Christ.  The  titles  read  as  though  the  aim  of  the 
courses  was  historical  Bible  study:  "The  Life  of 
Christ,"  "The  Life  and  Works  of  Jesus,"  "Studies  in 
the  Life  of  Jesus,"  "Outline  Studies  in  the  Life  of 
Christ,"  "The  Story  of  Jesus  by  John,"  "Life  of  St. 


EDUCATION   OF  BOYS  AND   YOUNG  MEN      259 

Paul,"  "Men  of  the  Old  Testament,"  etc.  I  suppose, 
however,  that  the  aim  really  is  to  get  moral  guidance 
and  religious  inspiration  for  present-day  living ;  not  so 
much  to  acquaint  one's  self  with  first-century  facts  as  to 
get  hold  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  life  for  the 
twentieth  century.  That  is,  the  aim  and  method  of 
these  Bible  studies  is  practical  rather  than  historical; 
some  historical  information  is  gained,  but  that  is  secon- 
dary to  the  main  purpose.  And  I  think  this  is  as  it 
should  be.  The  historical  study  of  the  Bible  in  these 
days  of  scientific  investigation,  many  scholars  and  vari- 
eties of  opinions,  is  a  very  complex  and  difficult  pursuit 
not  well  adapted  to  either  the  Sunday  school  or  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  But  the  study 
of  the  Bible  for  moral  and  religious  stimulus  and  in- 
struction is  a  profitable  pursuit  for  all.  What  I  am 
wondering  is,  whether  some  better  titles  for  these 
courses  of  study  could  not  be  devised  in  the  place  of 
these  conventional  ones  —  titles  that  will  indicate  the 
primary  aims  of  the  courses. 

We  especially  need  to-day  to  learn  how  to  apply  the 
principles  of  life  which  Jesus  taught  to  present  condi- 
tions. It  is  a  great  thing  to  learn  the  principles  them- 
selves, but  that  is  only  the  first  half  of  our  duty ;  there 
still  remains  the  duty  of  living  out  these  principles  in 
our  actual  lives.  Many  people  know  well  the  gospel 
principles,  but  fail  to  bring  their  thought,  feeling,  and 
conduct  into  accord  with  them.  It  takes  but  a  few 
moments  to  commit  to  memory  the  Golden  Rule,  and 
almost  every  one  knows  it.  But  that  amounts  to  but 
little  if  it  is  not  lived.  The  application  of  the  Golden 
Rule  to  the  industrial,  commercial,  and  social  spheres 
to-day  is  one  of  our  chief  problems ;  but  the  Bible  goes 
only  a  little  way  toward  making  the  application,  be- 
cause our  modem  conditions  are  so  different  from  those 
of  the  first  century.     Such  topics  as   "The  Golden 


26o     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

Ride  in  Business,"  "The  Principle  of  Justice  in  the 
Industrial  World,"  "  Brotherliness  and  the  Social 
Order,"  "One  Standard  of  Truthfulness,"  "Honesty 
in  Trade,"  "  The  Right  Use  of  Material  Things  "—  these 
could  be  worked  out  in  close  study  of  the  Bible  with 
full  information  as  to  existing  conditions.  Bible 
study  thereby  becomes  a  means  to  a  practical  end. 

To  be  sure,  the  teacher  of  a  Bible  class  always  deals 
with  matters  of  present  interest ;  he  always  makes  ap- 
plications of  the  portion  of  the  Bible  being  studied  to 
the  conditions  and  needs  of  our  own  time.  He  only 
makes  the  Bible  passage  a  starting  point  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  present  problems,  as  furnishing  the  principle 
of  which  he  himself  must  make  the  application.  Such 
an  unsystematic,  desultory  manner  of  discussing  the 
complex  and  difficult  problems  of  our  lives  in  this 
twentieth  century  cannot  give  satisfactory  results.  It 
would  be  better  if  these  great  problems  of  morality  in 
industry,  business,  civics,  society,  the  social  order, 
should  be  taken  up  specifically  one  after  another,  and 
studied  systematically  as  to  existing  conditions  and 
the  reasons  therefor;  as  to  the  moral  principles  (drawn 
from  the  Bible)  which  should  guide  us  in  improving 
these  conditions;  and  as  to  the  ways  and  means  for 
effecting  such  improvement.  The  conventional  kind 
of  Bible  study  deals  with  these  matters,  but  not  in  an 
adequate  way. 

The  curriculum  will  be  much  more  definite  and  in- 
telligible, it  will  show  better  the  progressive  nature  of 
the  program  of  instruction  and  training,  if  the  topics 
of  the  courses  state  specifically  the  practical  problems 
which  are  to  be  studied  in  each.  Such  statement  also 
will  be  a  reminder  to  both  teacher  and  class  that  it  is 
not  first-century  but  twentieth-century  life  that  we  are 
at  work  upon.  The  Bible  will  not  be  used  less  by  this 
arrangement,  but  decidedly  more.     Whereas  formerly 


EDUCATION   OF   BOYS  AND   YOUNG   MEN     261 

some  one  passage  was  made  to  supply  the  teaching  for 
the  solution  of  some  modem  problem,  such  as  the  duty 
of  self-sacrifice,  or  the  obligation  to  return  good  for 
evil,  under  this  topical  study  the  whole  teaching  of 
Jesus  and  of  the  Bible  would  be  brought  to  bear  upon  a 
given  problem,  and  fewer  mistakes  in  interpretation 
and  application  would  be  made. 

6.  There  should  be  no  limit  to  either  the  material 
or  methods  employed  to  accomplish  the  instruction  and 
training  provided  for  in  the  curriculum.  The  Bible 
is  our  supreme  guide  in  matters  of  religion  and  morality. 
Jesus  is  the  greatest  moral  and  religious  teacher  and 
personality  that  the  world  has  known.  It  is  from  this 
Book  and  from  Him  that  we  shall  learn  most ;  it  is  by 
Him  and  by  this  Book  that  we  shall  be  most  inspired. 
The  Bible  will  therefore  be  the  chief  and  constant  source 
of  light  and  power  to  us  as  we  seek  the  principles  of 
present-day  living  and  their  application  to  our  many 
perplexing  problems  of  thought,  feeling,  choice,  and 
action,  individually  and  socially. 

But  this  primary  employment  of  the  Bible  may  be 
supplemented  to  any  useful  degree  by  other  literature, 
ancient  and  modem,  that  has  moral  and  religious  lead- 
ing in  it,  by  the  study  of  non- Jewish  history,  by  the 
study  of  non-Biblical  as  well  as  Biblical  heroes  in  the 
sphere  of  human  goodness  and  usefulness.  To  restrict 
our  world  horizon  in  morality  and  religion  to  Palestine 
and  the  Jewish  people  within  the  limits  of  the  sixty-six 
canonical  books  cannot  be  the  largest  and  best  means 
of  fitting  ourselves  for  right  living.  The  Christian 
history  from  the  second  century  to  our  own,  the  Greek 
ethics  and  philosophy  which  have  contributed  so 
abundantly  to  the  Christian  theology  and  life  of  the 
centuries,  the  choice  hymns,  prayers,  and  poems  of 
recent  times,  the  great  modem  ethical  and  religious 
writings  and  books  of  information  toward  the  solution 


262     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

of  present  moral  and  religious  problems  —  all  these 
resources,  and  many  others  not  named,  should  be 
drawn  upon  to  furnish  a  rich,  varied,  illumining  and 
inspiring  material  for  the  teaching  of  the  courses. 

The  methods  employed  will  be  the  best  possible, 
whether  old  or  new.  Manual  and  visual  methods  of 
study  will  be  used,  so  far  as  they  are  adapted  to  the  age 
represented  in  the  particular  class  and  to  the  subject 
matter  of  the  course.  Constant  use  will  be  made  of 
notebooks.  A  reference  library  containing  books 
suitable  for  each  course  will  be  found  in  a  place  con- 
stantly accessible  by  day  or  evening,  and  specific 
readings  in  these  books  will  be  given  to  the  class  each 
week,  together  with  some  research  questions  for  which 
answers  can  here  be  found.  To  encourage  the  reading 
of  the  right  books  upon  the  topic  under  consideration 
will  be  one  of  the  chief  opportunities  of  each  teacher. 

Whenever  the  topics  deal  with  existing  conditions, 
it  will  be  of  fundamental  importance  that  the  class  be 
taken  to  where  they  can  see  these  conditions  with  their 
own  eyes,  and  discuss  them  in  the  environment  to 
which  they  belong.  It  is  simply  impossible  to  deal 
with  modem  problems  in  a  theoretic  way,  apart  from 
the  scene  of  them,  and  dissociated  from  the  people  who 
are  most  concerned  in  them.  Some  visits  of  the  class 
with  its  teacher  to  the  social  settlement,  or  to  the 
criminal  court,  or  to  the  factory,  or  to  the  sweatshop, 
or  to  the  jail,  or  to  the  reform  school,  or  to  the  immi- 
grant quarter,  will  make  the  moral  problems  seem  real 
and  will  bring  the  human  interest  to  bear  upon  their 
solution. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  already 
made  an  excellent  beginning  with  this  kind  of  study  in 
its  "Life  Problems"  courses.  I  affirm  that  courses  of 
this  kind  mark  a  new  epoch  in  the  moral  and  religious 
education    of    America.     The    several    concrete    life 


EDUCATION   OF  BOYS  AND   YOUNG  MEN     263 

problems  ought  to  be  taken  up  one  after  another  in 
complete  courses,  so  that  ftill  light  on  them  can  be  ob- 
tained and  full  consideration  given  them.  We  have 
begun  to  find  real,  practical,  everyday  subjects  and 
titles  for  our  courses  of  study.  We  are  setting  our- 
selves to  know  and  to  deal  directly  and  concretely  with 
living  problems.  We  are  shifting  our  point  of  interest 
in  Bible  study  from  ancient  to  modem  times.  We 
shall  continue  to  study  how  the  great  moral  and  re- 
ligious principles  of  the  prophets,  of  Jesus,  and  of  Paul 
were  applied  to  Jewish  conditions  of  the  distant  cen- 
turies, but  primarily  in  order  that  we  may  the  better 
study  how  the  great  moral  and  religious  principles 
which  are  our  inheritance  from  the  past  can  be  applied 
to-day  to  make  better  men  and  women,  better  industrial 
and  social  conditions,  in  this  twentieth-century  America 
that  we  have  a  part  in  shaping. 

If  it  were  in  my  power  to  do  so  at  this  time,  I  would 
name  to  you  a  complete  set  of  twelve  or  twenty-four 
course  topics,  to  make  a  complete  curriculum.  I  have 
named  some  that  I  think  would  be  good.  But  no  one 
individual  is  likely  to  hit  upon  a  satisfactory  list  or 
wording.  The  ideal  curriculum  must  be  a  growth; 
many  individuals  will  experiment  and  work  it  out. 
There  is  no  need  of  a  final  list  being  at  hand  for  the  in- 
auguration of  a  curriculum.  Let  the  courses  be  chosen 
and  entitled  according  to  the  best  that  is  available, 
and  then  as  rapidly  as  practicable  replace  poorer  courses 
by  better  courses,  poorer  titles  by  better  ones. 

7.  The  courses  are  to  be  arranged  for  the  curricu- 
lum in  a  developmental  order.  In  constructing  a  com- 
plete curriculum  to  cover  twelve  years  I  would  recom- 
mend that  there  be  a  division  of  the  whole  into  four 
departments,  corresponding  to  the  last  two  years  of 
Elementary  School,  the  High  School,  the  College,  and 
the  Graduate  or  Professional  School  of  the  regular 


264     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

educational  system.  The  departments  might  be  called 
by  these  same  names,  to  show  their  grade  and  to  iden- 
tify their  work  with  modem  education.  The  Elemen- 
tary (or  Boys')  Department  would  comprise  the  first 
two  years  of  the  Association  curriculum,  for  boys  of 
twelve  and  thirteen  years  of  age.  There  would  be  two 
courses,  each  about  thirty  weeks  in  length;  or  four 
courses,  each  about  fifteen  weeks  in  length.  The  High 
School  Department  would  comprise  the  next  four  years 
of  instruction  and  training,  for  boys  of  fourteen  to  sev- 
enteen years  of  age  inclusive.  It  would  contain  four 
courses,  each  about  thirty  weeks  in  length;  or  eight 
courses  each  about  fifteen  weeks  in  length.  The 
College  Department  would  comprise  the  next  four 
years  of  work,  for  young  men  of  eighteen  to  twenty -one 
years  of  age  inclusive,  containing  four  long  courses  or 
eight  short  ones.  The  Graduate  Department  would 
comprise  the  last  two  years  of  the  curriculum,  for  young 
men  twenty-two  and  twenty -three  years  of  age,  and 
would  contain  two  long  or  four  short  courses. 

A  curriculum  of  one-year  (thirty-week)  courses,  for 
the  ages  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  years,  would  then 
look  something  like  this : 

Boys'  Department 
Year  i.     (Age  12) — ^Jesus'  Way  of  Living. 
Year  2.     (Age  13) — Personal  Religion. 

High  School  Department 
Year  i.     (Age  14) — Nation  Builders  of  Israel. 
Year  2 .     (Age  1 5 ) — Nation  Builders  of  America. 
Year  3.     (Age  16)— The  World's  Greatest  Man. 
Year  4.     (Age  17) — The  Qualities  of  Manhood. 

College  Department 
Year  i.     (Age  18)— Uplift  Agencies— The  Home,  the 
School,  and  the  Church. 


EDUCATION  OF  BOYS  AND  YOUNG  MEN  265 

Year  2.  (Age  19) — Uplift  Agencies— The  Christian 
Associations,  the  Social  Settlements, 
Organized  Charities,  Missions,  etc. 

Year  3.     (Age  20) — A  Man's  Work  in  Business. 

Year  4.     (Age  21) — A  Man's  Work  in  Society. 

Graduate  Department 
Year  i.     (Age  22) — The  Duties  of  Citizenship. 
Year  2.     (Age  23) — America's  Work  for  the  World. 

The  titles  of  these  proposed  courses  of  instruction  and 
training  are  intended  only  to  suggest  some  of  the  gen- 
eral lines  of  character  building  that  might  be  used.  A 
mere  title  cannot  convey  a  definite  idea  of  what  a  course 
should  be ;  the  content  of  the  instruction  and  the  meth- 
od of  training  employed  are  the  all-important  things. 
Each  course  will  need  to  be  carefully  worked  out  and 
perfected  in  connection  with  a  class  before  it  is  pub- 
lished for  general  use.  A  specific  outline  of  each  lesson 
in  the  course,  together  with  many  specific  suggestions 
for  conducting  the  hour's  work,  will  alone  make  a  course 
practicable  for  the  majority  of  teachers. 

Courses  of  Bible  Study  and  Life  Problems  that  are 
already  in  print  can  be  given  a  place  in  the  curriculum 
until  other  courses  more  in  accord  with  the  main  idea 
and  purpose  of  Association  education  can  be  prepared. 
The  curriculum  can  be  built  up  step  by  step  as  suitable 
course  material  becomes  available.  The  construction 
of  a  satisfactory  system  of  education  for  the  Association 
is  likely  to  be  a  process  of  growth  rather  than  a  sudden 
event. 

The  chief  danger  of  a  curriculum  is  that  it  will  be- 
come a  mechanism.  In  the  hands  of  those  who  are 
without  the  teaching  gift  it  is  quite  sure  to  become  so. 
Systematic  method  easily  drifts  into  formality,  and  so 
the  vital  quality  may  be  lost.  A  fixed  scheme  of  in- 
struction may  fail  in  the  matter  of  adaptation  to  a  par- 


266     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

ticular  class  or  individual,  and  so  the  concrete,  personal 
element  in  the  process  of  education  may  be  lacking. 
The  efficiency  of  a  curriculum  will  depend  upon  the 
wisdom,  ability,  and  personality  of  the  teacher.  A  good 
teacher  without  any  plan  or  method  is  better  than  a 
poor  teacher  with  an  excellent  plan  and  method ;  but  a 
good  teacher  with  a  good  plan  and  method  of  instruc- 
tion is  certain  to  accomplish  the  largest  and  finest  re- 
sults in  the  building  of  character  and  the  training  to 
usefulness  of  a  boy  or  group  of  boys. 


THE  ANNUAL  SURVEY  OF  PROGRESS  IN 
MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

GEORGE  HODGES,  D.  D. 

DEAN    EPISCOPAL   THEOLOGICAL    SCHOOL,    CAMBRIDGE,    MASS. 

The  only  dramatic  incident  of  the  year  just  passed 
occurred  in  connection  with  the  public  schools  of  the 
city  of  New  York.  It  seemed  for  a  moment  as  if  all 
mention  of  the  Christian  religion  were  to  be  forbidden 
in  these  schools,  even  to  the  abolition  of  Christmas 
carols.  This  happily  proved  to  be  a  misunderstanding, 
but  it  alarmed  many  people  and  led  to  much  discussion 
in  the  newspapers  and  in  meetings  of  ministers.  The 
discussion  established  two  significant  facts:  first,  that 
public  opinion  is  stoutly  against  the  secularizing  of  the 
public  schools;  but,  second,  that  nobody  sees  clearly 
what  ought  to  be  done  about  it,  or,  if  he  sees,  is  not  yet 
able  to  convince  any  considerable  company  of  his 
neighbors. 

It  is  plain,  on  one  hand,  that  the  true  purpose  of 
the  public  schools  is  the  upbuilding  of  character. 
They  are  maintained  by  the  taxation  of  the  people,  not 
because  the  people  are  particularly  interested  in 
grammar  or  geography,  or  even  in  reading  and  writing, 


THE  ANNUAL  SURVEY  OF  PROGRESS  267 

but  because  they  are  concerned  for  the  general  welfare 
and  know  that  the  general  welfare  is  bound  up  with 
the  general  intelligence.  An  ignorant  people  cannot 
safely  be  trusted  with  the  large  powers  which  devolve 
upon  them  in  a  republic.  The  schools  go  along  with 
manhood  suffrage  as  a  part  of  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment. They  are  related  not  only  to  industry,  —  that 
is,  to  our  ability  to  make  our  own  living,  —  but  to 
democracy,  —  that  is,  to  efficient  citizenship.  We 
support  them  for  the  sake  of  the  state. 

But  for  the  good  of  the  state  mere  book  learning  is 
not  enough.  The  supreme  thing  needed  is  character. 
To  this  end,  the  discipline  of  the  school  is  as  important 
as  its  coiu'se  of  instruction.  Also,  to  this  end,  the 
instruction  of  the  school  is  of  value  in  proportion  to  its 
pragmatic  result,  —  that  is,  in  proportion  to  its  bearing 
on  the  making  of  good  men  and  women.  For  the 
heart  of  the  whole  matter  is  in  a  right  definition  of  the 
purpose  of  the  school;  and  that  definition  is  that  the 
true  purpose  of  the  school  is  to  help  boys  and  girls  to 
grow  up  into  good  men  and  women.  And  to  that 
attainment  the  moral  and  religious  elements  in  educa- 
tion are  of  the  very  first  importance. 

So  much  is  plain,  and  it  is  clear  also  that  the  import- 
ance of  this  side  of  education  was  never  so  great  as  it 
is  to-day.  Because  there  was  never  a  time  when  the 
state  could  depend  with  so  little  confidence  on  the 
tuition  of  the  child  in  these  matters  in  the  family.  The 
disintegration  of  domestic  life  is  one  of  the  most  serious 
aspects  of  the  city.  In  the  tenement  house,  the  indi- 
vidual, rather  than  the  family,  becomes  the  unit  of 
both  the  parochial  and  the  civic  life.  For  example, 
the  churches,  even  in  considerable  cities,  were  formerly 
open  only  on  Simday,  or  perhaps  once  or  twice  during 
the  week,  because  it  was  felt,  and  for  the  most  part 
rightly  felt,  that  the  fathers  and  mothers  would  attend 


268     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

to  the  moral  and  religious  upbringing  of  the  children 
between  Sundays.  The  appeal  was  to  the  family.  The 
parents,  with  family  prayers  and  catechizings  and 
religious  counsels,  maintained  the  influence  of  religion. 
Now  the  churches  are  open  every  day,  and  beside  the 
church  is  the  parish  house  wherein  something  is  going 
on  at  almost  every  hour.  This  is  the  endeavor  of  the 
church,  to  stand  in  the  place  which  many  parents,  for 
reasons  good  or  bad,  have  forsaken.  The  most  signifi- 
cant outward  sign  of  this  change  in  the  process  of  the 
moral  and  religious  education  of  the  youth  is  the  parish 
house. 

But  when  all  the  excellent  influences  of  the  parish 
house  are  added  up  and  duly  appreciated,  the  fact 
remains  that  the  children,  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  day,  are  in  the  schoolroom.  A  great  number  of 
these  children  are  not  being  instructed  in  religion  by 
either  the  church  or  the  home.  Granting  the  evident 
proposition  that  for  the  general  good,  even  for  the 
general  safety,  they  must  be  so  instructed,  we  must 
depend  mainly  on  the  school  to  do  it.  In  Boston,  and 
I  suppose  in  other  cities,  the  impending  problem  of 
lawless,  irresponsible,  and  malignant  youth  weighs 
upon  the  consciences  of  thoughtful  people.  There 
is  a  steady  increase  of  juvenile  crime.  There  is  a  gen- 
eration coming  on  in  whose  case  the  unmoral  and  un- 
religious  public  school  is  not  efficient  for  purposes  of 
citizenship.  That  is,  the  purpose  of  the  school  to  make 
boys  and  girls  into  good  men  and  women  was  never  so 
imperative  as  it  is  at  present,  and  the  use  by  the  school 
of  moral  and  religious  instruction  for  that  purpose 
was  never  so  much  needed. 

But  nobody  knows  what  ought  to  be  done.  No- 
body knows  how  the  influence  of  the  school  may  be 
brought  to  bear  on  character.  At  least  there  is,  as  yet, 
no  dominant  conviction,  no  large  agreement,  such  as 


THE  ANNUAL  SURVEY  OF  PROGRESS   269 

woiild  lead  to  action.  For  when  we  perceive  that  these 
two  matters  are  perfectly  plain,  the  concern  of  the 
school  with  character,  and  the  dependence  of  character 
upon  moral  and  religious  education,  we  come  at  once 
upon  a  third  fact,  or  group  of  facts,  which  complicates 
the  situation.  This  is  the  most  notable  aspect  of  our 
present  life  which  meets  the  eye  of  one  who  attempts 
this  annual  survey.  I  mean  the  fact,  on  the  one  hand, 
of  the  churches,  and  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  races. 
Our  present  combination  of  these  two  elements,  a  divi- 
ded Christendom  facing  a  cosmopolitan  society,  is  a 
modem  situation.  It  is  anew  problem:  too  new  for 
immediate  solution.  How  can  a  community  which  is 
part  Protestant  and  part  Catholic,  part  Christian  and 
part  Hebrew,  give  instruction  in  religion?  In  what 
religion  ? 

At  the  Inter-Church  Conference  on  Federation,  held 
in  New  York  in  1905,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wenner,  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  proposed  that  Wednesday  afternoon 
of  every  school  week  be  made  available  for  religious 
education.  This  proposition  has  come  this  year  in  a 
formal  way  before  various  representative  bodies  of  Chris- 
tians and  has  been  debated  with  more  or  less  accep- 
tance. Dr.  Wenner  in  his  paper  described  the  present 
state  of  instruction  in  religion  in  Germany,  in  England, 
and  in  France.  In  Germany  the  schools  give  at  least 
five  hours  each  week  to  moral  and  religious  education. 
In  England  the  sch  ools  are  distinctly  religious,  though 
the  relation  of  the  churches  to  the  schools  and  the 
definite  responsibility  of  the  clergy  for  instruction  is 
just  now  much  obscured  by  the  dissensions  which  have 
attended  recent  efforts  to  determine  the  matter  by 
legislation.  In  France  the  separation  between  the 
churches  and  the  schools  is  quite  as  complete  as  it  is 
in  America,  but  "Thursday  of  each  week  is  given  for  the 
purpose  of  allowing  the  churches  to  provide  in  their 


27©    EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

own  way  for  such  instruction  as  they  may  desire  to 
give." 

Thus  this  plan  has  the  advantage  of  precedent,  so 
that  an  examination  of  the  manner  of  its  working  in 
France  should  afford  convincing  arguments  for  or 
against.  The  German  plan  is  criticized  by  some  on 
the  ground  that  it  does  not  result  in  a  church-loving 
or  a  church-going  people.  But  here  again  much  de- 
pends on  the  assembling  of  the  facts  and  on  their  fair 
interpretation.  An  investigation  of  the  actual  value 
of  the  French  and  the  German  plans  of  religious  edu- 
cation would  assist  us  much.  Dr.  Wenner's  adaptation 
of  the  French  plan  proposes  a  dismissal  on  Wednesday 
afternoon  of  all  students  who  have  a  certificate  of 
attendance  at  parochial  instruction.  Those  who  re- 
main may  be  taught  ethics  or  deportment.  Those 
who  are  dismissed  go  to  their  respective  churches  and 
are  there  taught  according  to  the  discretion  of  the 
minister. 

Meanwhile,  the  churches  are,  for  the  most  part, 
preparing  themselves  to  undertake  any  such  larger  duty 
as  the  community  may  wish  by  a  steady  improvement 
in  the  method  and  quality  of  their  Sunday-school 
instruction.  The  field  in  this  direction  is  limited  by 
the  shortness  of  the  time  which  is  at  the  disposal  of 
the  churches  for  this  purpose.  One  hour  a  week  is 
hardly  enough  for  very  serious  pedagogical  work. 
And  this  hour  is  so  occupied  in  many  schools  with 
opening  and  closing  exercises  that  no  more  than  half 
of  it,  sometimes  not  so  much  as  that,  remains  for  the 
actual  teaching.  Moreover,  with  all  the  excellent 
efforts  which  are  now  being  put  forth  in  the  direction 
of  better  education  in  the  Sunday  school,  a  survey 
of  the  present  situation  shows  that  the  matter  is  still 
in  the  experimental  stage.  There  is  as  yet  little  con- 
sensus of  opinion  or  of  procedure  as  to  the  general 


THE   ANNUAL   SURVEY   OF   PROGRESS      271 

order  of  studies.  Even  the  main  intention  of  religious 
teaching  is  still  defined  diversely — on  the  one  side  by 
those  who  would  have  the  school  appeal  chiefly  to  the 
heart,  on  the  other  hand  by  those  who  would  have  the 
school  appeal  chiefly  to  the  mind.  The  final  result 
which  is  desired  is  the  same  under  both  definitions. 
The  purpose  is  to  make  good  Christians.  But  the 
differences  involve  quite  different  systems. 

The  International  Sunday  School  Association  is  just 
now  considering  this  matter  with  great  earnestness. 
If  the  appeal  is  mainly  to  the  heart,  then  a  uniform 
system  of  lessons  will  meet  the  need;  for  the  lesson 
is  like  the  text  in  the  pulpit  out  of  which  the  minister 
instructs  and  exhorts  the  whole  congregation,  young 
and  old,  wise  and  unwise.  If,  however,  the  appeal 
is  mainly,  or  largely,  to  the  mind,  then  a  graded  system 
of  lessons  is  imperative.  Not  only  must  differences 
of  age  and  attainment  be  taken  into  account,  but 
there  must  be  an  ordered  intellectual  progress  year 
after  year,  from  entrance  to  graduation,  as  in  the 
public  school.  The  truth  is  that  both  of  these  appeals 
are  valid,  and  both  of  the  resulting  methods  are 
effective. 

Accordingly,  at  a  notable  conference  of  members  of 
the  International  Executive  Committee,  of  the  Lesson 
Committee,  of  the  Simday  School  Editorial  Association, 
and  of  the  Lesson  Publishers,  held  in  Boston  early  in 
January,  these  two  statements  following  were  adopted 
as  the  conviction  of  the  conference : 

I .  That  the  system  of  a  general  lesson  for  the  whole 
school,  which  has  been  in  successful  use  for  thirty-five 
years,  is  still  the  most  practicable  and  effective  system 
for  the  great  majority  of  the  Sunday  schools  of  North 
America.  Because  of  its  past  accomplishments,  its 
present  usefulness,  and  its  future  possibilities,  we 
recommend  its  continuance  and  its  fullest  development. 


272     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

2.  That  the  need  for  a  graded  system  of  lessons  is 
expressed  by  so  many  Sunday  schools  and  workers 
that  it  should  be  adequately  met  by  the  International 
Sunday  School  Association,  and  that  the  Lesson  Com- 
mittee should  be  instructed  by  the  next  International 
Convention  to  continue  the  preparation  of  a  thor- 
oughly graded  course  of  lessons  covering  the  entire 
range  of  the  Sunday  school. 

These  resolutions  will  be  presented  to  the  Twelfth 
International  Sunday  School  Convention,  to  be  held 
at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  in  June.  They  represent 
admirably  the  present  stage  of  progress.  They  indicate 
also  the  wise  and  patient  way  in  which  the  conserva- 
tives and  the  radicals  may  keep  company  under  the 
leadership  of  the  association,  and  come  finally  to  an 
agreement  whereby  all  needs  shall  be  satisfied.  It  is 
likely  that  that  ultimate  agreement  will  establish  an 
arrangement  of  graded  lessons. 

Meanwhile,  the  authors  and  editors  of  the  Con- 
structive Bible  Studies,  published  at  the  University 
of  Chicago,  are  of  one  mind  in  this  matter.  They  stand 
stoutly  on  the  proposition  that  the  Sunday-school 
instruction  common  amongst  us  is  antiquated  and 
ineffective,  and  years  behind  the  day  schools.  They 
insist  that  to  meet  the  conditions  of  the  times  the 
schools  must  be  remodeled,  so  as  to  take  advantage 
of  the  immense  advances  which  the  art  of  teaching  has 
made.  To  this  end  provisions  are  set  forth  for  a 
graded  school.  "The  old  method,"  so  the  projectors 
of  these  studies  say,  "the  old  method,  by  which  the 
entire  school  studied  the  same  lesson  on  the  same  day, 
has  outlived  its  usefulness.  It  is  no  longer  sufficient 
that  a  child  should  study  a  given  number  of  passages 
from  the  Bible;  he  must  understand,  in  a  connected 
and  logical  way,  the  great  system  of  morality  and  of 
religion  which  the  Bible  sets  forth.  To  gain  this  sort 
of  mastery  of  the  Bible,  he  must  advance  by  natural 


THE   ANNUAL   SURVEY   OF   PROGRESS     273 

stages  from  stories  to  characters,  from  characters  to 
ideas.  He  must  first  tinderstand  as  a  child,  and  later 
put  away  childish  things.  This  means  that  at  every 
step  he  should  be  given  lessons  adapted  to  his  capacity. 

This  is  substantially  the  opinion  of  the  Joint  Com- 
mission of  the  General  Convention  on  Simday- School 
Instruction  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  This  commis- 
sion, composed  jointly  of  bishops  and  presbyters  and 
laymen,  reported  at  Richmond  in  October.  They 
felt  that  there  ought  to  be  more  careful  grading  in 
accordance  with  recognized  principles  of  education. 
They  recommended  five  departments  having  a  pro- 
gressive purpose.  The  aim  of  the  primary  department 
should  be  "to  plant  in  the  heart  of  the  child  the  truth 
of  the  love  and  care  and  mission  and  power  of  God. 
The  aim  of  the  junior  department  should  be:  "the 
moral  education  of  the  child,  the  deepening  of  his  sense 
of  duty  to  others,  the  direction  of  his  social  relations 
and  activities,  and  the  establishment  of  moral  and 
religious  habits."  The  aim  of  the  middle  department 
should  be  to  prepare  the  child  for  definite  Christian 
decision  —  i.  e.,  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  for  Confirma- 
tion. The  aim  of  the  senior  department  should  be: 
"  the  determining  of  Christian  character,  moral  convic- 
tion, comprehension  of  the  divine  origin  and  mission  of 
the  Church,  responsibility  for  carrying  on  the  work  of 
Christ. ' '  Then  comes  graduation,  and  after  that  a  post- 
graduate course  for  teachers.  Also,  at  the  instance  of 
this  Commission,  the  General  Convention  added  relig- 
ious pedagogy  to  the  subjects  in  which  the  yoimg  men 
are  to  be  examined  before  their  ordination  to  the 
ministry. 

Thus,  your  observer,  looking  out  over  that  great 
area  of  religious  education  which  is  committed  to  the 
Sunday  school,  one  finds  a  condition  of  confusion.  In 
general,  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  rel- 


2  74     EDUCATION   AND    NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

ative  advantage  of  a  tiniform  lesson  or  of  a  graded 
course.  In  particular,  there  is  a  great  and  perplexing 
diversity  of  studies.  That  regulated  order  of  instruc- 
tion with  which  children  are  familiar  in  the  day  school 
does  not  yet  appear  in  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  com- 
munity. But  there  is  an  amount  of  discussion  of  the 
matter,  and  of  earnest  study,  and  of  hopeful  experi- 
mentation, out  of  which  we  may  expect  results  which 
some  subsequent  summary  of  progress  in  this  field  shall 
chronicle. 

An  interesting  movement  is  successfully  under  way 
for  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  out  of  school.  The  objects 
of  the  National  Vacation  Bible  School  Committee 
are:  "i.  To  promote  college  and  church  ministry 
to  children  of  the  cities  by  establishing  Daily  Vacation 
Bible  Schools,  and  by  securing  the  service  of  trained 
men  and  women  adapted  to  such  ministry.  2.  To 
encourage  the  formation  of  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School 
Committees  in  every  city  and  in  every  communion,  to 
co-relate  and  unite  their  work,  and  to  supplement 
it  where  necessary.  3.  To  co-operate  with  societies 
and  movements  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  make  the 
Christian  education  of  the  young  more  efficient,  and 
with  those  that  have  as  their  aim  the  righting  of  social 
wrongs  against  children."  Last  summer  this  com- 
mittee carried  on  this  work  in  Philadelphia,  in  Chicago 
and  in  New  York.  In  a  manufacturing  district  of 
Philadelphia  the  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  and 
Lutheran  communions  joined  in  the  maintenance  of 
twelve  Vacation  Schools,  in  which  more  than  a  thou- 
sand children  were  daily  instructed  by  graduates  of 
Bryn  Mawr,  of  Princeton,  and  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  In  Chicago  four  schools  were  kept 
open  all  summer  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  stock 
yards,  with  a  daily  attendance  of  nearly  three  hun- 
dred, and  with  students  from  Northwestern  University 


THE  ANNUAL  SURVEY  OF  PROGRESS  275 

and  from  the  University  of  Chicago  as  teachers.  In 
New  York  the  Baptist  City  Mission  operated  nine 
Vacation  Schools,  and  the  Federation  of  Churches 
fifteen;  besides  three  under  direct  charge  of  the 
committee.  Schools  such  as  these  will  be  established 
in  the  different  parts  of  other  cities,  to  educate  children 
whose  religious  education  is  at  present  neglected,  by 
means  of  the  Bible,  into  better  citizenship. 

The  number  of  college  students  available  for  this 
purpose  is  every  year  greatly  increased  by  the  efforts 
of  the  Christian  Associations  of  young  men  and  of 
young  women.  These  associations  have  their  own 
arrangements  of  courses  in  the  study  of  the  Bible. 
They  publish  special  text  books  for  use  in  these  courses, 
having  reference  to  the  conditions  of  college  students. 
They  are  setting  forward  the  organization  of  college 
Bible  classes,  and  are  remarkably  successful  in  getting 
these  classes  formed  in  dormitories  and  in  fraternity 
houses.  The  young  men  report  that,  while  in  1901 
only  about  eleven  thousand  college  men  were  studying 
the  Bible  together,  in  1907  there  were  registered  more 
than  three  times  that  number.  That  is,  in  seven  years 
this  work  has  been  multiplied  by  three.  In  some 
colleges  it  supplements  prescribed  or  elective  courses 
in  which  the  Bible  is  presented  on  its  historical  and 
literary  side  as  one  of  the  supreme  books;  the  volim- 
tary  classes  study  the  book  devotionally.  In  these 
colleges  the  entire  teaching  of  the  Bible  is  carried  on  in 
these  unofficial  organizations.  The  reports  show  that 
the  work  appeals  to  men  of  ability  and  position  in  the 
colleges.  Last  year,  nearly  six  thousand  such  leaders 
were  enrolled  in  the  classes,  —  editors  of  college  papers, 
winners  of  academic  prizes,  class  presidents,  athletic 
persons,  members  of  baseball  and  football  teams. 

One  of  the  ultimate  results  of  this  process  of  relig- 
ious education  must  be  the  increase  of  the  number  of 


2  76     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

men  who  present  themselves  for  ordination.  A  part 
of  the  present  loss  is  traced  to  a  change  of  mind  during 
the  college  course;  and  this  change  of  mind,  while  it 
may  be  due  in  part  to  new  claims  of  other  callings 
wherein  a  man  may  use  his  powers  for  the  good  of  the 
community,  such  as  the  Christian  Association,  and  the 
social  settlement,  and  the  organization  of  philan- 
throphy,  it  must  be  due  also  to  a  secularizing  of  the 
mind.  Sometimes  in  the  college  life  the  intellectual 
difficulties  which  seem  to  bar  the  way  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry  are  presented  with  an  emphasis  which 
leads  to  a  declination  of  that  work  as  involving  a 
bondage  of  the  mind,  and  the  young  man  who  is 
rejoicing  in  a  new  vision  of  truth  and  a  new  sense  of 
freedom  in  the  truth  is  turned  aside.  Sometimes  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  get  in  between  him  and 
his  high  calling.  In  either  case,  this  wide-spread 
Bible  study,  this  stimulating  companionship  with  men 
of  earnestness  and  faith,  this  meeting  of  intellectual 
problems  and  solution  of  them,  must  operate  to  keep 
men  true  to  their  early  devotion. 

The  most  serious  failure  in  the  field  of  religious 
education  is  in  the  decreasing  supply  of  religious 
leaders.  So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  the  quality 
of  the  men  who  present  themselves  at  the  schools  of 
theology  is  as  good  as  ever.  They  who  come  are  strong 
and  able,  and  both  high-minded  and  broad-minded. 
They  are  going  out  every  year  to  undertake  the  prob- 
lems which  confront  our  association,  with  intelligence 
and  courage.  The  pulpit  of  the  coimtry,  reinforced 
by  these  men,  is  a  vital  influence,  having  the  respect 
of  the  commimity,  and  setting  forward  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. 

Our  confusing  ecclesiastical  divisions,  which  on  the 
one  hand  supply  our  smaller  towns  with  more  ministers 
than  are  needed,  and  on  the  other  hand,  by  reason  of 


THE   ANNUAL   SURVEY   OF   PROGRESS     277 

that  fact,  keep  the  salaries  of  the  ministers  at  a  level 
only  just  above  that  of  ordinary  laborers,  are  mean- 
while a  constant  determent  to  men  who,  while  willing 
to  sacrifice  their  personal  dignity  and  the  comforts  of 
life  for  the  love  of  Christ  do  not  feel  a  strong  call  to 
sacrifice  them  for  the  love  of  a  religious  denomination. 
The  differences  which  most  of  the  denominations 
maintain,  and  which  once  seemed  important  and  vital, 
do  not  particularly  interest  them.  They  are  not  dis- 
posed to  endure  hardships  for  the  sake  of  upholding 
either  one  side  or  the  other  in  a  debate  about  infant- 
baptism,  or  in  defense  of  either  an  Episcopal,  or  a 
Presbyterian,  or  a  Congregational,  form  of  church 
polity;  still  less  in  the  perpetuation  of  some  local 
disagreement  which  divided  a  parish  forty  years  ago. 
This,  I  believe,  is  a  considerable  part  of  the  cause  of 
the  reluctance  of  young  men  to  take  up  the  work  of 
religious  education.  As  they  look  at  the  ministry 
from  the  point  of  view  of  their  own  commimity,  it  does 
not  seem  to  be  a  man's  work.  The  divisions  of  our 
local  Christendom  stand  in  our  way. 

Even  here  the  new  religious  interest  of  the  colleges 
may  eventually  help  us.  Every  year  the  colleges  are 
sending  out  men  who  have  joined  with  their  fellows 
in  the  study  of  the  sacred  books  of  our  common 
Christianity.  They  have  united  in  that  occupation 
with  men  of  other  churches  and  of  other  ways  of  think- 
ing. They  have  got  a  better  general  perspective  than 
their  fathers.  They  care  for  some  things  more,  for 
some  things  less,  than  was  the  habit  of  the  parish  in 
which  they  were  brought  up.  And  they  go  home  in 
that  new  spirit.  They  are  likely  to  be  better  parish- 
ioners than  they  would  have  been  without  that  larger 
acquaintance.  We  wait  for  them  to  bring  about  a 
imion  of  the  local  churches.  It  is  true  that  from  one 
point  of  view  there  are  not  ministers  enough;    but 


278     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

from  another  point  of  view  there  are  twice  too  many. 
Probably  on  the  whole  the  present  diminution  of  the 
number  is  a  good  thing.  It  may  adjust  the  supply  to 
the  actual  demand.  We  hear  what  the  Spirit  said  in 
the  old  time  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia.  The 
new  generations  of  young  men  coming  from  the  new 
enthusiasm  of  the  Bible-studying  colleges  may  be 
enabled  to  hear  what  the  Spirit  says  to-day  to  the 
Seven  Churches  of  Lonely ville.  I  suspect  that  the 
Spirit  says  that  the  Seven  Churches  of  Lonelyville 
need  only  two  ministers,  or  at  the  most  three,  with  the 
salaries  of  the  seven,  and  with  the  field  free  to  devote 
their  entire  energies  to  the  extirpation  of  the  Devil. 


RECENT  PROGRESS  IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

REV.    FRANKLIN   D.    ELMER 

PASTOR   FIRST    BAPTIST   CHURCH,    WINSTED,    CONN. 

If  in  the  Sunday-school  situation  to-day  there  is  one 
most  heartening  sign,  it  is  that  in  every  part  of  our 
country,  we  might  perhaps  say  the  world,  the  trained 
leaders  of  our  church  institutions,  from  school  and 
college,  seminary  and  pulpit,  publishing  house  and  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  the  ripest  wisdom  of  our  foremost 
men  and  women  is  being  directed  to  the  solution  of  the 
problems  of  religious  education.  And  this  turning  of 
the  adult  to  the  interests  of  the  Sunday  school  is  happily 
not  confined  to  religious  and  educational  leaders.  The 
rank  and  file  of  the  laity  feel  the  impelling  force  of  new 
convictions  and  are  taking  their  places  beside  their 
sons  and  daughters  in  the  school  rooms  of  the  church. 
About  every  other  letter  in  the  extensive  correspond- 
ence that  I  received  on  recent  Sunday-school  advance 
mentioned  the  adult  Bible-class  movement  as  a  signif- 
icant sign  of  the  times.     One  publisher,  who  is  in  a 


PROGRESS   IN   THE    SUNDAY   SCHOOL       279 

position  to  know  whereof  he  speaks,  says:  "I  think  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  during  the  year  the  adult  enrollment 
has  nearly  doubled,  due  to  this  movement,  which  is 
still  growing."  Dr.  Blackall  speaks  of  "The  very 
rapid  development  of  organized  adult  classes,  and  the 
publication  of  material  especially  adapted  to  meet  that 
need."  Amos  R.  Wells,  "There  is  promise  of  enor- 
mous usefulness  in  this  movement,  and  I  rejoice  in  it." 
The  editor  of  the  Sunday  School  Times  finds  that  one 
of  "the  two  features  that  loom  biggest  on  the  horizon 
is  the  widespread  and  earnest  attention  being  given  to 
the  adult  Bible-class  work."  Marion  Lawrance  speaks 
of  it  as  of  great  significance  and  illustrates  by  telling 
of  the  Ohio  town  where  on  a  recent  Sunday  out  of  a 
population  of  10,000  there  were  1,000  men,  all  mem- 
bers of  organized  classes,  gathered  in  one  body  for  a 
special  meeting.  He  adds,  "Such  a  movement  gives 
dignity  to  Sunday-school  work."  It  is  not  hard  to  im- 
agine that  the  children  will  attend  with  deeper  realiza- 
tion of  its  importance  when  they  find  their  parents 
and  older  relatives  there  before  them. 

II.  The  Readjustment  of  the  Church  to  Meet  the 
Demands  now  Realized  Through  the  Awakened  Con- 
sciousness. 

This  readjustment  is  evidenced  in  a  new  ecclesiasti- 
cal architecture  which  recognizes  the  Sunday  school. 
The  superintendent  who  replied  to  the  question,  "  What 
of  your  school  ? ",  "I  can  at  least  say  that  I  have  a  good 
'corpse'  of  teachers,"  finds  that  the  trustees  no  longer 
insist  on  a  living  burial  of  his  flock  in  the  cold,  gloomy 
underground  rooms  delicately  frescoed  with  furnace 
pipes.  Architects  are  to-day  directed  to  build  with  the 
comfort  and  profit  of  the  child  and  teacher  in  mind. 
Old  buildings  are  renovated  or  additions  erected  from 
the  same  standpoint. 

The  time  for  holding  sessions  of  the  school  is  also 


28o     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

undergoing  investigation.  Not  the  tag  end  of  the  day, 
but  its  brightest  and  best  hours  are  now  held  as  none 
too  good  for  the  children.  Weekday  sessions  are  in- 
creasing, designed  for  supplemental  study,  either  in 
the  church  building  or  at  the  home  of  the  teacher. 
Some  even  advocate  an  arrangement  with  the  public 
schools  whereby  a  part  of  one  weekday,  Wednesday 
perhaps,  shall  be  devoted  to  religious  instruction  in 
the  several  churches;  the  scholars  attending  the  ses- 
sions of  the  Bible  schools  at  their  church  homes  or 
remaining  in  the  public -school  session  for  that  period 
for  its  usual  exercises  as  they  choose  or  as  their  parents 
decree.  It  may  be  well  here  to  quote  from  an  inter- 
esting letter  received  from  a  prominent  Rabbi:  "I 
look  upon  the  attempt  of  some  clergymen  to  foist 
religious  instruction  upon  the  public -school  system  as 
an  evidence  of  retrogression.  We  have  made  such 
progress  in  teaching  religion  on  Saturday  and  Sunday 
that  we  do  not  feel  the  need  of  taking  time  away  from 
secular  instruction,  but  the  Jewish  Sunday  schools 
have  always  been  conducted  upon  systematic  principles 
and  that  is  one  of  the  reasons  of  our  success.  If  such 
methods  were  employed  in  Christian  schools  generally 
their  success  would  be  greater." 

The  ideals  of  Sunday-school  equipment  are  also 
constantly  enlarging.  Penny  collections  and  poverty 
stricken  conceptions  of  equipment  have  dominated. 
This  is  now  most  happily  changing.  The  modem 
equipment  of  the  Sunday  school  includes  libraries 
which  no  longer  attempt  to  provide  general  reading, 
this  place  being  filled  by  public  institutions,  but 
which  contain  arsenals  for  teacher  training,  technical 
supplies,  and  laboratory  material  to  aid  in  instruction. 
Some  schools  are  considering  the  introduction  of  appro- 
priate furniture.  Here  and  there  are  those  already 
supplied  with  technical  books,  accurate  maps,  sand 


PROGRESS   IN  THE   SUNDAY   SCHOOL      281 

tables,  oriental  models,  pictures,  and  a  full  line  of 
manual  method  material. 

Within  the  past  five  years  pictures  have  been  em- 
ployed more  and  more  in  teaching,  everywhere  with 
stuprisingly  good  results.  We  spend  vast  sums  in 
stained  glass  windows,  why  should  we  fail  in  the  illu- 
mination of  our  instruction  ?  And  we  are  now  learning 
the  value  of  an  equipment  that  will  enable  us  to  lead 
our  children  into  the  midst  of  Bible  lands  and  scenes, 
until  the  truth  becomes  real  and  vital  to  them,  and  is 
accepted  in  character.  The  release  of  the  Tissot  pic- 
tures from  their  costly  editions  to  inexpensive  prints 
for  Sunday-school  purposes  seems  significant  enough 
to  find  mention  here. 

The  Bible  School  Exhibit  shown  in  connection  with 
this  convention  undertakes  to  present  possibilities  in 
modem  equipment,  and  be  it  said,  the  Exhibit  tables 
show  not  selections  out  of  a  dream  world  but  actual- 
ities from  schools  employing  advance  methods  with 
definite  and  wholesome  results. 

Another  most  interesting  item  to  be  noted  under  the 
proposition  of  the  readjustment  of  a  church  with  the 
interest  of  the  Simday  school  in  mind,  is  the  present 
largely  unsupplied  demand  for  paid  workers,  superin- 
tendents, supervisors  of  Simday-school  districts,  man- 
ual directors,  kindergartners,  even  teachers.  There 
is  upon  us  the  opportunity  for  a  new  profession  in 
Christian  service,  the  salaried  Sunday-school  specialist. 
Just  now  the  demand  is  being  met  so  far  as  possible 
from  the  few  institutions  like  the  Hartford  School  of 
Religious  Pedagogy,  from  among  efficient  workers 
who  have  grown  up  with  the  local  fields,  and  from 
closely  allied  professions,  such  as  the  ministry,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  secular  teaching.  We  may  well  speak 
a  word  of  counsel  from  the  meeting  to  any  seeking  this 
field  for  their  calling  and  livelihood.     It  is  that  the 


282     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

demands  of  the  work  are  exacting.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  anyone  can  succeed.  Most  thorough 
preparation,  consecration,  and  the  hardest  labor,  de- 
lightful though  it  is,  are  needed  for  success. 

III.  The  Growing  Irenic  and  Friendly  Relationship 
of  Workers  in  this  Field. 

Other  great  movements  in  the  church  have  con- 
sidered unity,  desired  unity,  prophesied  unity;  are 
not  the  present  tremendous  stirrings  in  the  interests 
of  religious  culture  and  nurture  of  the  soul  in  a  con- 
siderable measure  unity  itself?  Regardless  of  denom- 
inational fences  we  are  calling  back  and  forth  those 
things  which  we  have  discovered  to  be  good.  The 
vision  and  the  need  of  youth  know  no  barriers.  Epis- 
copalian advances  are  a  guide  to  Baptists.  Meth- 
odist and  Congregational  findings  are  accepted  as  cur- 
rent coin  in  the  ecclesiastical  realm.  What  one  termed 
in  a  conversation  with  me  recently,  "The  awakening 
of  the  liberal  denominations  to  the  importance  of 
child  culture,"  rejoiceth  us  all.  We  are  asking  the 
Synagogue  the  secret  of  its  method  with  the  young, 
the  Catholic  how  it  is  that  his  children  have  such 
remarkably  easy  access  to  the  rainy-Sunday  umbrellas. 

IV.  The  New  Appreciation  of  Education  as  Fund- 
amentally One,  with  its  Corollary,  the  important  point 
for  our  consideration.  That  Methods  Found  to  be  Suc- 
cessful and  Desirable  in  so-called  Secular  Education 
May  be  Adapted  for  the  Sunday  School  without 
Further  Question  to  their  Inherently  Sacred  Character. 

That  is,  the  influence  of  such  educational  leaders 
as  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi  is  not  to  be  lost  to  our  sys- 
tems of  religious  instruction. 

Testimony  seems  to  me  overwhelming  that  the 
great  tendency  of  the  day  is  toward  a  Sunday  school, 
in  which,  as  the  head  of  one  of  the  leading  publishing 
houses  writes,  "Religious  education  is  not  to  be  an  in- 


PROGRESS   IN  THE   SUNDAY  SCHOOL      283 

consequential  matter  of  merely  secondary  consider- 
ation, to  be  continued  with  the  haphazard  methods 
of  the  past,  but  on  the  other  hand  not  only  worthy  of, 
but  demanding  as  thorough  and  conscientious  effort  in 
systematizing,  grading,  and  teaching  as  are  conceded 
in  the  matter  of  secular  education."  He  continues, 
"  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  movement  is  as  yet  any- 
thing but  general,  but  great  advance  has  been  made 
within  the  last  three  or  four  years,  for  which  the  Reli- 
gious Education  Association  undoubtedly  deserves 
large  credit." 

Letters  received  from  various  sections  of  the  country 
and  from  every  shade  of  denominational  and  theolog- 
ical conviction  offer  the  same  testimony.  There  seems 
to  be  agreement  unanimously  that  the  Sunday  school 
is  rapidly  advancing  toward  the  educational  ideal. 
Indeed  one  gentleman  who  has  taken  large  part  in  such 
advance  in  local,  denominational,  and  national  circles, 
calls  attention  in  his  letter  to  the  possibility  of  our 
overdoing  this  matter.  After  referring  to  the  general 
movement  toward  teacher-training  and  graded  lessons 
he  goes  on  to  say,  "  It  seems  to  me  that  more  attention 
is  being  paid  to  the  possibility  of  religious  instruction 
of  children  on  some  weekday  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Sunday  school.  Sometimes  it  is  urged  that  the  public 
school  should  make  an  allowance  of  time  for  this 
purpose.  Personally  I  hope  that  some  such  arrange- 
ment will  come,  and  that  Sunday  will  be  given  more  to 
worship,  specialized  for  children,  and  less  to  study  and 
recitation." 

Another  well-known  leader  writes:  "The  fact  that 
has  most  impressed  me,  I  name  without  hesitation  as 
the  conversion  of  the  forces  of  one  great  denomination 
to  graded  lessons  and  teacher-training."  From  his 
famous  school  in  Philadelphia  the  Hon.  John  Wan- 
amaker  writes,  "Advance  has  been  very  marked  in 


284    EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

the  quality  of  teaching  of  teachers,  and  consequently 
in  the  better  training  of  scholars.  In  the  best  Sunday 
school  it  is  apparent  that  there  is  much  more  system- 
atic concentration  upon  the  one  idea,  that  the  schools 
are  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  word  of  God,  and 
not  for  concerts  or  shows." 

A  Brooklyn  preacher,  perhaps  best  qualified  of  all 
men  in  that  city  of  Sunday  schools  to  observe  im- 
partially general  movements  in  the  local  situation, 
says:  "The  advance  I  have  noted  with  greatest  pleas- 
ure is  the  establishment  of  classes  for  teachers.  Our 
public-school  children  are  not  content  with  the  inferior 
teaching  in  the  Sunday  school.  Trained  teachers  are 
chaining  the  quarterlies  and  unchaining  the  Bible. 
They  are  putting  facts  in  the  place  of  fancy  and  are 
talking  about  faith  rather  than  of  the  fashions,  fidelity 
to  a  trust  in  place  of  frivolity  in  teaching."  Doctor 
Silverman  says,  "Jewish  teaching  of  the  Bible  succeeds 
because  it  is  in  harmony  with  modem  thought.  In 
the  secular  schools  children  are  taught  to  seek  for 
facts.  We  teach  myths  as  myths  and  draw  the  ethical 
lesson." 

A  representative  of  another  denomination  at  the 
forefront  of  Sunday-school  advance,  himself  dynam- 
ically progressive,  writes  jubilantly  of  "those  who  be- 
fore hated  the  very  word  progress,"  "that  they  have 
been  won  over  in  just  three  years  until  they  put  forth 
a  graded  pedagogical  curriculum  and  a  report  which 
is  as  progressive  as  if  I  wrote  it  myself." 

You  will  forgive  the  spea'cer,  I  am  sure,  if  in  con- 
cluding this  part  of  his  paper  he  makes  reference  to  a 
phase  of  modem  met  lod  in  religious  instruction  in 
which  he  has  been  especially  interested  during  the 
past  few  years,  that  of  manual  work. 

The  evolution  of  the  graphic  method  offers  many 
refined  features,   such  as  an  acquaintance  with  the 


PROGRESS   IN   THE   SUNDAY  SCHOOL      285 

world's  best  religious  art  through  good  prints,  and 
selections  from  these  pictures  by  the  pupil  to  illustrate 
his  note-books ;  modeling  and  moulding  in  paper  pulp, 
clay,  and  plasticine;  map-making;  imaginative  travel 
by  the  use  of  the  stereoscope ;  illuminated  story  com- 
position; essay  and  thesis  work;  harmonization  of 
biblical  texts.  In  the  Sunday  school  this  method  fol- 
lows its  universal  acceptation  in  what  we  are  pleased 
to  call  secular  education. 

Hardly  to  be  classed  under  the  same  head,  but  as  a 
noteworthy  aid  in  encouraging  self-expression,  we  are 
using  Bible  declamations  in  place  of  the  usual  "chil- 
dren's day"  pieces,  on  our  festival  occasions.  The 
biblical  literatures,  for  the  most  part,  were  composed 
in  speech  before  being  reduced  to  writing. 

The  arguments  for  the  use  of  the  manual  method 
may  be  summed  up  under  the  following  heads: 

1.  Children  like  to  do  something.  Manual  work 
absorbs  the  electric  discharges  of  child  energy,  divert- 
ing the  propulsive  forces  from  shying  paper  wads  to 
moulding  maps  and  making  models. 

2.  It  provides  a  system  of  mnemonics.  Facts 
learned  in  this  way  stick.  The  eye  sent  along  a  fiat 
map  may  soon  forget,  but  never  the  fingers  that  have 
shaped  a  miniature  Carmel,  lofty  Hermon,  Esdraelon, 
the  rolling  Shepheleh,  or  the  defile  of  the  Jordan. 

3.  It  provides  a  means  of  self-expression  which 
psychologists  tell  us  has  not  a  little  to  do  with  charac- 
ter-formation. In  illustration  of  what  I  mean  I  could 
tell  you  the  story  of  a  boy  fast  maturing  now  who  has 
been  almost  saved  to  his  interest  in  Sunday-school 
work  by  having  assigned  him  the  making  of  a  model  of 
a  Palestinian  Khan.  The  simple  making  of  that  model 
will  have  a  religious  influence  over  his  whole  life.  The 
little  wooden  inn  itself  is  on  the  exhibit  tables,  where 
you  may  see  it,  marked  with  his  name. 


286     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

One  publishing  house  is  issuing  its  lessons  this  year 
with  fully  graded  manual  method  suggestions  for 
each  week.  Other  publishers  are  introducing  these 
fascinating  exercises  with  pictures  and  models  to  a 
limited  extent.  The  work  has  reached  a  stage  where 
it  may  be  fairly  said  to  constitute  one  of  the  important 
advances  for  religious  instruction  of  the  time. 

V.  The  next  proposition  deals  with  the  Practical 
Acceptation  of  the  Bible  as  the  Normal  Text-book  of 
the  Religious  Life. 

Dr.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins  expresses  it,  "There  can 
be  no  question  but  that  the  Bible  rather  than  denom- 
inational catechisms  is  now  being  used  in  all  our  Sun- 
day schools,  and  this  means,  for  those  who  believe  in 
the  power  of  the  Word  of  God,  personal  conversion  and 
growth." 

VI.  I  would  be  untrue  to  the  leaders  in  modem 
advance  and  to  my  own  convictions  deepened  in  this 
endeavor  to  survey  the  Sunday-school  field,  if  I 
omitted  as  a  final  proposition,  The  Evangelistic  Oppor- 
tunity of  Religious  Education. 

The  great  conception  of  the  normality  of  the  religious 
experience  is  dawning  on  our  schools.  The  Sunday 
school  is  indeed  the  nursery  of  the  church  and  we  are 
apprehending  the  reasonableness  of  sound  instruction 
as  a  channel  into  the  inner  life,  expecting  thereafter 
the  outflow  of  the  soul  toward  God. 

The  new  attitude  of  the  Sunday  school  toward  mis- 
sionary instruction  and  missionary  activity  in  world- 
wide spheres  is  biologically  related  to  our  present  vision 
of  Christ  as  the  great  teacher-evangelist.  Many  of 
my  correspondents  considered  the  progressive  move- 
ment of  missionary  forces  through  the  Sunday  school 
a  most  hopeful  sign  of  advance.  This  from  Bishop 
Warren  of  Denver:  "One  of  the  most  important  ad- 
vances is  the  plan  to  send  a  peripatetic  professor  to 


THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  AS  A  SOCIAL   FORCE     287 

hold  Sunday-school  Institutes  in  the  schools  for  ne- 
groes in  the  South,  thus  reaching  ten  millions  of  our 
fellows  with  best  methods  and  inspiration." 


THE   SUNDAY  SCHOOL  AS   A  SOCIAL   FORCE 

By   GEO.   WHITEFIELD   MEAD,    Ph.  D. 

PASTOR   SECOND    PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH,    PITTSBURG,    PA. 

"Come,  my  boy,  you  are  old  enough  to  begin  your 
training  for  life,"  said  a  father,  when  off  they  trudged 
to  a  country  Sunday  school  two  miles  away.  Going 
to  the  superintendent,  the  father  of  the  lad  said,  "I 
want  him  to  be  a  useful  man."  The  boy  grew,  and 
served  well  as  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
Schuyler   Colfax. 

Has  the  Sunday  school  part  in  the  making  of  useful 
men  ?  in  fitting  our  youth  for  the  duties  of  life  ?  Does 
it  give  society  something  fine  and  noble  in  character? 
Does  it  make  boys  and  girls  Christians  —  faithful  fol- 
lowers of  the  Nazarene,  whose  discipleship  finds  ex- 
pression in  daily  living?  Does  the  Sunday  school 
fortify  against  temptation  and  give  a  passion  for 
righteousness  ?  If  so,  then  the  Sunday  school,  despite 
its  defects,  confused  curricula,  and  suffered  anathemas, 
is  rendering  a  real  social  service. 

But  these  words,  "passion  for  righteousness," 
"followers  of  the  Nazarene,"  are  large  words.  I 
speak  as  a  friend  of  the  Sunday  school,  as  one  who 
believes  in  it.  Some  of  us  love  it  as  we  love  our  chil- 
dren: as  not  blind,  we  trust  to  their  improvement. 
While  I  acknowledge  the  splendid  service  of  the  Sun- 
day school  in  the  creation  and  development  of  Chris- 
tian character,  thus  raising  the  level  of  our  common 
life  and  adding  to  the  sum  of  social  righteousness, 
I  am  compelled  to  believe  that  the  Sunday  school  as  a 


288     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

social  force  is  pitifully  wanting  as  compared  with  its 
magnificent  possibilities;  and  the  results  are  serious. 
Despite  our  improved  methods  of  working  and  teach- 
ing, new  curricula,  helps  of  modem  psychology  and 
pedagogy,  scores  of  schools  are  still  losing  thousands 
of  scholars,  graduating  them  into  the  world  instead  of 
into  the  church,  in  part  because  there  comes  a 
time  in  the  experience  of  boys  and  girls  when  pious 
story-telling,  exhortation,  and  even  scientific  instruc- 
tion are  not  of  holding  attraction.  Nor  indeed  can 
they  be.  Keeping  in  mind  the  principle  of  modem  psy- 
chology that  that  which  is  not  expressed  dies,  we  see 
the  absolute  necessity  of  talents  being  put  to  use,  of 
powers  being  employed.  There  must  be  engagement 
in  service  —  a  service  which  appeals  at  once  to  one's 
interest,  imagination,  emotion,  and  benevolence,  all 
of  which  are  " motor  spurs"  to  action.  Where  is  there 
opportunity  for  such  service?  Not  merely  in  work 
for  the  church  —  that  has  long  been  tried,  that  has 
failed;  but  in  work  through  the  chiu-ch  for  society, 
for  the  improvement  of  the  community,  its  health,  its 
laws,  schools,  homes,  —  all  that  affects  the  well-being 
of  the   people. 

"The  field  is  the  world."  The  Kingdom  of  God 
takes  into  its  comprehensive  embrace  all  human  in- 
terests. The  church  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means,  for 
bringing  about  the  Lordship  of  Jesus  Christ,  over  the 
whole  man :  body  and  spirit,  and  over  all  life :  family, 
industrial,  commercial,  intellectual,  political. 

The  principle  underlying  the  function  of  the  church 
and  Sunday  school  as  a  social  force  is  ministration, 
God's  ultimate  in  salvation.  The  church  is  less  an  ark 
than  an  army.  One  cannot  say  of  the  Christ,  "  Whose 
I  am,"  without  saying  also,  "And  whom  I  serve." 
The  Christian  is  saved  to  serve.  One  of  the  last,  best 
words  of  the  best  theological  thought  of  to-day  is  that 


THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  AS  A  SOCIAL  FORCE     289 

to  be  saved  is  to  share  the  life  of  God,  and  to  share  the 
life  of  God  is  to  share  the  outflowing  of  His  life  to  all 
His  creatures. 

An  inward  righteousness  is  the  only  source  of  a 
righteous  civilization.  On  the  other  hand  to  assume 
that  individual  salvation  is  the  cure-all  of  society's  ills, 
is  to  assume  the  conversion  of  all,  which  the  parable 
of  the  wheat  and  tares  forbids  us  to  expect.  Regen- 
eration is  preparation  for  social  action.  The  second 
great  commandment  and  the  new  commandment, 
amplified  and  applied,  place  the  Christian  as  a  minis- 
tering servant  in  the  thick  of  social  needs;  therefore 
the  fighting  of  disease,  such  as  tuberculosis,  the  work- 
ing for  the  abolition  of  child  labor,  leading  a  crusade 
against  intemperance,  greed  and  graft,  filth  and  vice, 
industrial  piracy  and  political  infamy,  are  as  truly  a 
religious  duty  as  teaching  a  Bible  class  and  sending 
missionaries  to  the  heathen. 

I  anticipate  three  questions:  First,  if  the  Sunday 
school  teaches  this  broader  conception  of  the  Christian's 
social  mission,  will  it  not  be  at  the  cost  of  the  spiritual 
mission?  On  the  contrary,  is  it  possible  to  be  true 
to  our  spiritual  mission  save  in  being  true  to  our  social 
mission?  "He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he 
hath  seen,  cannot  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen." 
Jesus  said,  "  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because 
He  hath  sent  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor : 
He  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives, 
recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them 
that  are  bruised,  to  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the 
Lord"  (Luke  4. 18-19).  The  day  is  passed  when  one 
dare  spiritualize  those  words  away.  Jesus  chiefly 
emphasized  duties  regarding  life  on  earth,  saying  little 
of  the  future  life.  He  plainly  declared  that  we  show 
our  love  to  God  by  our  love  to  man,  and  that  we  are 
here  to  redeem  our  social  relations :  to  pray  and  work 


290     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

that  God's  kingdom  may  come  on  earth,  even  as  in 
heaven.  If  that  means  anything,  it  means  a  never 
ceasing  attack  on  every  wrong  institution;  means 
not  the  saving  of  a  few  people  out  of  the  world,  but 
the  saving  of  the  world;  means  not  so  much  the 
amelioration  of  poverty,  disease,  injustice,  hunger  of 
heart  and  home,  as  the  transformation ,  of  conditions 
which  cause  such  sufferings  and  demand  not  for  chari- 
ty but  justice ;  means  the  moralizing  and  christianizing 
of  industry,  commerce,  and  all  life ;  means,  in  a  word, 
a  new  world  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  the  reali- 
zation of  the  Kingdom  of  the  brotherly  man,  and  the 
absolute  Lordship  of  Jesus  Christ.  Such  work  and 
purpose  does  not  impair  the  spiritual ;  moreover  the 
Sunday-school  or  church  that  is  not  united  in  devo- 
tion to  this  divine  social  ideal  is  neither  spiritual  nor 
Christian. 

A  second  question :  Conceding  that  social  service  is 
a  part  of  Christian  duty,  how  is  it  possible  for  a  Sunday 
school  to  teach  everything  in  a  study  period  of  one 
hour  a  week?  We  sympathize  with  the  question. 
The  time  is  short,  the  work  many-sided ;  there  is  much 
that  one  would  like  to  do  that  one  cannot  do  for  sheer 
want  of  time.  But  despite  the  limitation  of  time  and 
the  many  claims  upon  it,  what  would  we  think  of  a 
Sunday  school  that  year  in  and  year  out  did  not  teach 
of  prayer,  or  conversion,  or  regeneration,  or  faith,  or 
heaven?  And  yet  ten  times  as  much  is  said  in  the 
Bible  of  right  relations  to  our  fellows  and  of  social  obli- 
gations as  there  is  concerning  justification,  forgiveness 
of  sins,  regeneration,  faith,  and  heaven.  A  Sunday 
school  that  fails  to  teach  of  social  service  fails  in  a 
fundamental  particular,  and  in  so  far  fails  of  being  a 
Bible  school.  Fidelity  to  the  contents  of  the  scripture 
lesson  is  a  simple  but  unfailing  principle. 

Third  question:     Since  the  work  of   the   Sunday 


THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  AS  A  SOCIAL  FORCE     291 

school  is  to  make  not  only  Christian  disciples  or  learners, 
but  also  followers  or  soldiers  of  Christ,  how  can  we 
meet  this  obligation  ?  Certainly  not  through  entering 
into  political  or  controversial  questions,  but  through 
implanting  a  spirit  of  service.  We  should  begin  early 
to  teach  of,  and  encourage  gifts  to  relief  and  philan- 
thropic purposes,  such  as  to  hospitals  for  crippled 
children,  industrial  schools,  fresh-air,  ice,  and  milk 
fund,  missions,  etc.  Again  in  the  matter  of  intem- 
perance it  is  possible  not  only  to  fortify  our  youth 
against  temptation  but  also  to  so  plant  the  seeds  of 
indignation  in  them  as  to  ally  them  with  forces  arrayed 
against   such   evils. 

By  way  of  illustration,  I  mention  one  other  way  in 
which  a  spirit  of  social  service  can  be  awakened,  namely, 
through  Village  Improvement,  Garden  Cities,  associa- 
tions and  kindred  activities,  as  instanced  by  the  very 
remarkable  work  of  the  Cleveland  Home  Gardening 
Association,  with  its  enlistment  of  men,  women,  and 
children  who  have  found  health  and  happiness,  and 
forces  that  make  for  righteousness  as  school-yards, 
back-yards,  cinder  piles,  and  rubbish  heaps,  have 
been  transformed  into  gardens  of  wondrous  beauty 
and  fragrance.  Those  of  us  who  know  of  the  dismal 
tenement,  know  of  the  delight  of  the  tenement  child 
with  any  touch  of  nature.  As  great,  however,  is 
the  opportunity  of  the  village.  The  possibilities  of 
such  work  for  moral  awakening,  civic  righteousness, 
and  development  of  character,  is  the  story  between 
the  lines  of  the  history  of  the  Village  Improvement 
associations  of  New  England,  and  "The  Garden  Cities 
Association  of  America."*  The  teacher  in  the  Sunday 
school  can  teach  of  such  work  as  a  real  service  to 
society  and  in  appeal  to  the  immediate  interest  of  the 
taught.     Keeping  in  mind  the  principle  of  modem 

'  Address  Metropolitan  Building,  New  York  City. 


292     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

pedagogy  that  moral  and  religious  instruction  should 
be  correlated  with  the  changing  dominant  interests 
and  activities  of  life,  the  teacher  need  never  miss  the 
point  of  contact  in  teaching.  One  may  begin  with 
the  pollen  on  a  boy's  nose,  tin  cans  on  a  vacant  lot, 
plants  or  flowers  in  a  class  room,  —  near  at  hand  surely 
child  or  adult  can  be  touched  at  a  point  in  his  experi- 
ence, and  enlisted  in  social  service.  The  gain  to  otir 
youth  would  be  great.  Are  we  not  told  that  a  boy 
will  absorb  as  much  book  learning  in  four  hours  of 
study  and  four  hours  of  motor  activity  as  he  will  in 
eight  hours  of  study?  But  the  gain  through  such 
simple  service  as  seed-planting  and  garden-tending  is 
more  than  the  development  of  motor  centers.  Fol- 
lowing the  principle  of  grafting,  that  is  of  grafting  one 
interest  on  to  another,  beginning  with  some  interest 
that  a  child  has,  such  as  a  plant,  a  few  seeds,  a  pot  of 
earth,  and  using  this  as  a  stepping  stone  to  another 
interest,  children  can  be  led  from  personal  interest  to 
public  interest,  from  home  and  school  world  to  the 
social  world,  to  interest  in  the  cleanliness  and  neatness 
of  streets,  health,  and  weal  of  the  community  and 
the  world.  And  when  that  spirit,  a  passion  for  right- 
eousness, prevails,  we  shall  have  less  and  little  need 
for  charity  societies,  asylums,  relief  houses,  and  in- 
ebriate cures,  which  for  the  most  part  are  as  so  many 
plasters,  arnicas,  salves,  and  liniments  —  medicaments 
that  ease  but  never  heal. 

Is  the  Sunday  school  a  Bible  school  ?  Does  it  teach 
the  Saviorship  and  the  Kingship  of  Christ?  Does  it 
stand  for  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  ?  Is  it  a  school 
for  teaching  and  training,  for  instruction  and  inspira- 
tion, for  information  and  transformation,  and  for  a 
salvation  whose  \iltimate  is  ministration?  Does  it 
make  faithful  followers  of  the  Nazarene,  who  went 
about  doing  good?     Does  it  ground  our  youth  in  the 


FRATERNAL  ORDERS  AND  MORALITY  293 

laws  and  ideals  of  Christian  ethics  and  give  them 
a  passion  for  righteousness  ?  —  then  it  is  a  beneficent, 
constructive,  social  force. 


FRATERNAL  ORDERS  AND  MORAL  EDUCATION 

CHARLES  A.   BARNES 

SUPREME     CHANCELLOR     OF    THE     KNIGHTS     OF     PYTHIAS,    JACKSON- 
VILLE,   ILLINOIS 

As  we  view  the  history  of  the  world  and  note  the 
advancement  of  civilization  and  the  continual  chang- 
ing of  public  sentiment  caused  thereby,  we  realize  that 
mankind  has  been  continually  advancing  to  a  higher 
and  better  state  of  moral  and  educational  develop- 
ment. Man  is  to-day  better  fed,  more  comfortably 
clothed,  living  under  more  just  and  humane  laws,  with 
more  general  education,  greater  love,  consideration, 
and  respect  for  his  fellowmen,  and  higher  and  more 
exalted  moral  perceptions  than  ever  before  in  his  his- 
tory; and  still,  the  situation  to-day  will  look  almost 
barbarous  when  this  period  is  retrospectively  surveyed 
by  those  who  will  be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  advance- 
ment of  centuries  hence. 

When  the  Order  of  Knights  of  Pythias  was  bom 
forty-four  years  ago  this  month,  a  large  part  of  the 
most  highly  educated,  and  especially  the  religious 
element,  of  our  people  condemned  fraternal  organiza- 
tions as  antagonistic  to  our  form  of  government,  dan- 
gerous to  our  stability  as  a  nation,  and  injurious  to 
religious  ideas  and  the  advancement  of  Christianity, 
To-day  there  is  no  general  opposition  to  these  organ- 
izations, but,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  now  recognized 
as  a  strong  ally  of  the  church  and  a  potent  factor  in 
the  social,  educational  and  moral  advancement  of 
our  people. 


294     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

By  "fraternity"  we  mean  the  associating  of  men 
together  into  a  society  or  organization  having  for  its 
ulitimate  object  and  purpose  the  common  good  of 
themselves  and  of  humanity ;  the  promulgation  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man;  a  join- 
ing of  forces  to  exemplify  the  Golden  Rule;  to  seek 
to  build  up  higher  ideals ;  to  exalt  true  manhood ;  to 
strive  to  make  life  and  the  world  better,  happier,  and 
brighter.  This  divine  idea  of  fraternity  was  given 
to  the  world  by  the  Man  of  Galilee,  and  since  that 
date  has  joined  hands  with  religious  teachings  in  the 
promoting  of  human  happiness  and  progress.  The 
conception  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brother- 
hood of  Man  has  been  the  beacon  light  that  has  led 
advancing  civilization  in  all  its  phases.  To  these 
two  ideas  we  owe  all  of  moral  good  and  true  happiness 
that  mankind  has  received.  For  the  purpose  of  ad- 
vancing and  propagating  this  Christian  idea  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  various  religious  fraternities,  or 
church  organizations,  were  from  time  to  time  formed, 
and  thereby  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Christianity 
became  extended  and  the  generally  accepted  guide  of 
a  proper  life. 

Time  demonstrated  that  the  Christian  idea  of  fra- 
ternity could  best  be  taught  and  advanced  by  the 
organization  of  those  who  loved  this  idea  and  realized 
its  benefits.  This  caused  the  formation  of  those  so- 
cieties known  as  fraternal  organizations.  At  first 
these  organizations  were  few  in  number  and  small  in 
membership,  but  as  their  benefits  became  better  known 
they  extended  as  the  churches  have  done.  While 
these  societies  differ  in  their  methods  of  organization, 
and  while  their  forms  of  initiation  teach  fraternity  to 
their  members  in  different  ways  and  by  different  lec- 
tures and  object  lessons,  still  the  fundamental  idea 
on  which  they  are  created  and  for  which  they  have  a 


FRATERNAL  ORDERS  AND  MORALITY  295 

place  is  identical.  That  fraternal  society  is  the  best  — 
that  is,  stands  the  highest  in  the  personnel  of  its 
membership,  the  influence  it  exerts,  and  the  esteem  in 
which  the  outside  world  holds  it  —  that  most  forcibly 
impresses  its  members  with  the  doctrine  of  fraternity, 
and  causes  them  to  practice  it  in  their  every-day  life. 
Fraternity,  as  thus  taught,  seeks  to  impress  upon  the 
members  of  these  organizations  that  they  owe  a  duty 
to  themselves  and  to  their  fellow  men.  That  in  order 
to  live  a  happy  life  they  should  be  temperate  in  all 
things ;  should  obey  the  moral  law  in  all  its  precepts ; 
should  observe  all  the  obligations  of  life,  which  includes 
the  obligations  to  the  fraternity  and  its  member- 
ship, the  obligations  to  society,  the  obligations  as  a 
child,  a  husband,  and  a  parent,  the  obligations  to  the 
law  and  to  their  country,  and  their  obligations  to  the 
Supreme  Being  above.  That  they  should  regard  their 
fellow  man  as  brother,  and  exemplify  towards  him  the 
lesson  of  the  Golden  Rule ;  that  they  should  treat  him 
honestly  in  all  business  dealings ;  should  not  injiu-e  his 
good  name ;  should  endeavor,  as  far  as  possible,  to  aid 
him  in  his  laudable  undertakings;  and  help  him  in 
every  possible  way  to  be  a'  better,  happier,  and  more 
worthy  citizen.  This  is  the  ideal  fraternity,  and  if 
these  lessons  became  the  generally  accepted  and  lived- 
up-to  rule  of  conduct,  what  a  different  world  this 
would  be!  It  is  not  claimed  that  the  millions  of 
men,  who,  in  this  country  alone,  are  connected  with 
these  fraternal  organizations,  live  strictly  up  to  the 
teachings  of  these  Orders,  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  they  have  all  been  benefited  because  of  the 
teachings  they  have  received  in  the  lodge  room,  and 
are  better  and  more  moral  men,  with  higher  ideals  of 
life,  and  that  the  general  average  of  citizenship  has 
been  raised  by  their  connection  therewith. 

It  is  hard  for   those  who  are  not  connected  with 


296     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

such  societies  to  realize  what  an  educational  feature 
they  are  to  young  men.  The  learning  of  the  ritu- 
alistic lectures,  the  familiarity  with  parliamentary 
rules,  and  participation  in  business  discussions,  have 
splendidly  developed,  and  started  on  the  road  of 
self-education  many  deprived  of  other  educational 
opportimities. 

There  is  absolutely  nothing  connected  with  these 
organizations  that  is  immoral,  demoralizing,  or  de- 
grading, but  on  the  contrary  all  their  teachings  and 
influence  tend  to  elevate  and  improve ;  to  instil  higher 
and  nobler  ideals  of  life;  to  build  up  truer  manhood; 
and  to  inculcate  a  higher  respect  for  virtue  and  mor- 
ality. By  their  companionship  with  each  other,  the 
members  learn  to  respect  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  others ;  to  cease  those  habits  or  that  conduct  that 
offends;  and  to  kindly  persuade  their  brothers  in 
the  lodge  to  do  the  same.  For  the  yoimg  men  just 
entering  the  battle  of  life,  especially  those  who  have 
departed  from  home  and  home  environment,  these 
organizations  have  done  much  to  keep  them  from  temp- 
tation and  to  hold  them  to  proper  conduct  and  moral 
influences.  Close  ties  of  friendship  are  formed  that 
add  much  to  the  sunshine  of  life.  In  the  charitable 
work  that  is  a  part  of  the  teachings  of  all  these 
organizations,  selfishness  is  curbed  and  the  heart 
softened  and  warmed  towards  those  in  affliction, 
trouble,  or  distress. 


FRATERNAL   EDUCATION  297 


FRATERNAL  EDUCATION 

JOSEPH   B.   BURTT,   LL.  B. 

LAWYER,    CHICAGO,    ILLINOIS 

The  enormous  growth  of  the  fraternal  orders  in  the 
United  States  within  the  last  forty-four  years  should 
concern  every  citizen  in  this  nation,  whether  he  be- 
lieves in  fraternal  orders  or  not.  It  is  said  that  ten 
years  ago  one  man  in  eight  in  the  United  States  be- 
longed to  some  fraternal  order.  Now  it  is  claimed 
that  one  man  in  three  has  membership  in  some  fraternal 
order.  It  is  said  that  within  the  last  forty-four  years 
these  fraternal  organizations  have  grown  in  our  nation 
from  two  to  six  hundred.  The  two  which  existed  be- 
fore 1864  have  each  over  a  million  members.  Several 
fraternal  orders  have  grown  up  in  our  nation  since 
1864,  which  have  nearly  a  million  members  each. 
These  orders  have  lodges  in  nearly  every  city,  village, 
and  hamlet  in  this  nation. 

The  principles  of  these  orders  are  not  secret.  These 
principles  are  sacred  and  do  not  belong  exclusively  to 
any  church  or  lodge ;  they  belong  to  humanity.  Men 
have  been  taken  into  these  fraternal  orders  so  fast  that 
they  could  not  digest  the  principles  or  the  laws  of 
their  own  orders.  Many  orders  have  passed  laws  to 
keep  men  engaged  in  certain  occupations  out  of  their 
ranks.  The  occupations  which  tolerate  lawlessness 
have  been  excluded  from  all  but  one  of  the  fraternal 
orders.  These  orders  have  nearly  all  passed  laws 
which  provide  for  the  expulsion  of  members  who  vio- 
late the  law  of  the  land.  In  other  words,  the  mem- 
bers of  these  orders  preach  that  a  man  can  not  be  a 
true  fraternal  man  and  at  the  same  time  violate  the 
laws  of  his  fellow  men. 

The  Pythian  Order  recently,  in  one  year,  expelled 


298     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

over  fifteen  hundred  members  of  that  order  in  Illinois, 
which  members  had  for  years  defied  the  laws  of  Illinois 
and  the  laws  of  the  Pythian  Order.  The  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  recently,  in  one  year,  expelled  over  two  hun- 
dred members  of  that  order,  who  had  for  years  defied 
the  laws  of  Ohio,  and  the  laws  of  the  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows. 

The  Masons  in  some  of  the  Southern  States  have 
recently  taken  a  very  decided  stand  in  disciplining 
members  of  that  order  who  take  part  in  or  encourage 
lynching. 

Probably  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  voters  in 
Chicago  either  belong  to  or  have  been  expelled  from 
the  various  fraternal  orders  or  the  different  labor  or- 
ganizations, and  yet  the  subject  of  fraternal  education 
has  been  so  neglected  in  that  city  that  the  juries 
recently  selected  to  try  saloonkeepers  for  keeping 
saloons  open  on  Sunday  contrary  to  the  Criminal  Code 
of  Illinois,  failed  to  convict  the  defendants  after  the 
admission  of  their  guilt  and  after  the  court  had  prac- 
tically instructed  these  juries  to  bring  in  verdicts  of 
guilty. 

The  churches,  with  but  few  exceptions,  have  done 
nothing,  and  are  doing  nothing,  to  help  the  lodges  ex- 
tend fraternal  education  to  the  men  in  fratema 
orders  and  in  labor  organizations,  though  the  Presby- 
terian church  is  making  some  effort  to  keep  in  touch 
with    labor    organizations. 

Some  great  thinkers  are  beginning  to  ask  whether 
more  men  would  see  the  Fatherhood  of  God  through 
the  brotherhood  of  man  than  would  see  the  brother- 
hood of  man  through  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  If 
religion  is  the  basis  of  fraternity,  why  is  not  fraternity 
the  natural  step  to  religion?  Why  should  not  the 
agencies  of  fraternity  be  the  recruiting  stations  for 
the  agencies  of  religion  ?     Would  this  not  be  the  natiiral 


FRATERNAL   EDUCATION  299 

process  if  men  really  understood  religious  education  and 
fraternal  education? 

The  Religious  Education  Association  has  done  much 
to  make  us  understand  better  the  real  need  of  religious 
education  and  the  relation  of  religious  education  to 
the  needs  of  the  human  race.  Why  should  not  the 
Fraternal  department  in  the  Religious  Education 
Association  help  us  to  understand  better  the  subject 
of  fraternal  education  and  its  relation  to  humanity? 

Fraternal  education  will  keep  the  agencies  of  relig- 
ion and  education  in  touch  with  mankind.  It  will 
prevent  an  aristocracy  in  religion  or  in  learning.  It  will 
stop  us  from  regarding  the  golden  rule  merely  as  a 
rule  of  sentiment,  but  it.  will  cause  us  to  regard  it  as  a 
rule  of  business  necessity.  It  will  teach  the  masses 
that  they  should  use  the  principles  of  religion  in  clean- 
ing and  paving  the  streets  in  the  cities  of  this  world 
and  that  these  great,  imperishable  principles  do  not 
exist  merely  for  a  select  few  to  pave  their  streets  with 
gold  in  the  next  world.  It  will  cause  the  masses  to 
realize  that  education  is  for  them  and  not  a  thing 
merely  for  a  few  aristocrats.  When  men  get  too  good 
to  live  with  their  fellow  men  or  too  refined  to  help 
others  less  fortunate  than  themselves,  then  they  have 
outlived  their  usefulness.  Men  who  cannot  apply  their 
religion  or  their  education  to  the  needs  of  mankind 
are  worthless  members  of  society. 

To  do  no  man  wrong  cannot  be  taught  by  legisla- 
tion. It  must  be  taught  by  education.  We  need 
less  legislation  and  more  education.  Legislation  does 
not  produce  moral  men,  but  education  along  religious 
and  fraternal  lines  does  produce  moral  men.  We 
need  fewer  politicians  and  more  statesmen;  we  need 
fewer  law-breakers  and  more  patriots;  we  need  more 
men  to  live  for  their  country  and  fewer  men  to  die 
for  their  country ;  we  need  fewer  flat  hunters  and  more 


300     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 

home  makers ;  we  need  fewer  dependent  and  delinquent 
families  and  more  independent  homes.  The  churches, 
the  schools,  and  the  lodges  should  make  it  their  business 
to  find  out  where  the  dependent  and  delinquent  homes 
are  and  help  eliminate  them  and  not  wait  until  it  is 
necessary  for  juvenile  courts  and  police  departments 
to  take  charge  of  our  dependent  and  delinquent  children. 
Fraternal  education  will  help  eliminate  some  of  the 
foolish  things  which  now  stand  between  labor  and 
capital.  Fraternal  education  will  help  us  to  know 
and  understand  each  other  better.  One-half  the 
sorrow  arises  from  the  fact  that  one-half  the  world 
does  not  know  and  iinderstand  the  other  half.  Fra- 
ternal education  will  aid  us  in  finding  out  the  truth 
about  ourselves  and  make  us  realize  that  to  know  the 
truth  about  ourselves  makes  us  free.  It  will  help 
eliminate  from  our  lives  those  foes,  jealousy,  prejudice, 
and  ignorance.  It  will  aid  us  in  giving  to  every  man 
a  considerate  hearing  and  a  square  deal  without  regard 
to  the  cause  of  his  misfortiine,  his  color,  his  country, 
or  his  creed. 


The  Fifth 

General  Convention 

Proceedings 


THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  FIFTH  GENERAL  CON- 
VENTION 

THE     FIRST     GENERAL     SESSION,     TUESDAY     EVENING 

The  Fifth  General  Convention  of  the  Religious  Edu- 
cation Association  met  in  the  First  Congregational 
Church,  Tenth  and  G  Streets,  Washington,  D.  C,  on 
Tuesday  evening,  February  nth,  1908,  at  8  o'clock, 
and  was  called  to  order  by  the  President  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, Henry  Churchill  King,  D.  D.,  President  of 
Oberlin  College. 

The  devotional  service  was  led  by  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Woodrow,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Convention  Church. 

Addresses  of  welcome  were  made  by  the  Hon.  Henry 
B.  F,  McFarland,  Commissioner  of  the  District  of  Col- 
umbia and  the  Hon.  Elmer  E.  Brown,  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education. 

The  appointments  for  the  Convention  were  an- 
nounced by  the  President. 

After  announcements  by  General  Secretary  Cope, 
the  annual  address  of  the  President  was  delivered 
by  President  King,  on  "Enlarging  Ideals  in  Morals 
and  Religion." 

Under  the  general  theme  for  the  session:  "How 
Can  the  Educational  Agencies  be  made  more  Effective 
in  the  Moral  Life  of  the  Nation  ?"  addresses  were  made 
on  "  The  College  Home  as  a  Means  of  Securing  a  Right 
Moral  Atmosphere  for  Students,"  by  Mr.  Clarence 
Birdseye  of  New  York;  and  on  "The  Universities  and 
the  Social  Conscience,"  by  Professor  Francis  G.  Pea- 
body,  D.  D.,  of  Harvard  University. 

After  further  annoimcements  by  the  President,  the 

303 


304     EDUCATION   AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

session  adjourned  with    the  benediction  by  Professor 
Peabody. 

THE    SECOND    GENERAL    SESSION,    WEDNESDAY  MORNING 

The  Second  General  Session  met  in  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church  at  9 :45  o'clock  a.m.,  and  after  being 
called  to  order  by  President  King,  was  led  in  devotions 
by  the  Rev.  F.  D,  Power,  D.  D.,  of  Washington. 

The  minutes  of  the  Fourth  General  Convention  were 
submitted  as  printed. 

The  Nominating  Committee  reported,  through  the 
Chairman,  the  Rev.  Frank  K.  Sanders,  D.  D.,  and  the 
persons  named  in  the  report  were  unanimously  elected 
to  their  respective  offices.     (See  list  on  page  307). 

The  General  Secretary  presented  the  Survey  of  the 
Association's  Work,  being  the  report  of  the  Executive 
Board  to  the  Board  of  Directors.  The  report  was  sup- 
plemented by  brief  remarks  from  President  King. 

The  Rev.  W.  C.  Bitting,  D.  D.,  of  the  Board  of 
Directors,  presented  the  needs  of  the  Association. 
Subscriptions  were  received  for  the  extinguishment 
of  the  debt  and  for  the  Sustaining  Fiuid. 

The  Annual  Survey  of  Progress  in  Religious  and 
Moral  Education  was  presented  by  the  Rev.  George 
Hodges,  D.  D.,  of  the  Episcopal  Theological  School, 
Cambridge,  Mass. 

The  two  Surveys  were  discussed  by  the  Rev.  Frank 
K.  Sanders,  D.  D.,  in  a  paper;  and  the  discussion  was 
continued  by  Professor  George  A.  Coe  of  Northwestern 
University,  President  L.  L.  Doggett,  Ph.  D.,  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Training  School,  Springfield,  Mass.,  and 
Mr.  G.  W.  Judson,  President  of  the  Local  Guild,  Win- 
sted.  Conn. 

After  announcements,  the  session  was  dismissed 
with  benediction  by  the  Rev.  R.  D.  Lord,  D.  D.,  of 
Brooklyn. 


MINUTES  OF  THE   FIFTH   CONVENTION     305 

The  Third  General  Session  was  held  on  Wednesday- 
evening,  Feb.  12th,  and  the  Fourth  General  Session 
on  Thursday  evening,  February  13th,  both  at  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  where  the  program  as  printed 
in  "Religious  Education"  for  February,  1908,  was 
carried  out.  Sixteen  departments  also  held  from  one 
to  three  sessions,  as  set  forth  in  the  same  program. 

REPORT   OF    COMMITTEE    ON    RESOLUTIONS 

Your  Committee  on  Resolutions  reports  the  follow- 
ing: 

1.  That  the  thanks  of  the  Religious  Education 
Association  are  due  and  are  hereby  expressed  to  the 
local  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  services  it 
has  rendered  to  make  our  fifth  annual  meeting  a  suc- 
cess ;  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  for  its 
generous  hospitality  and  the  use  of  its  building ;  to  the 
First  Congregational  Church  for  the  use  of  its  house  of 
worship  for  our  general  and  departmental  sessions. 

2.  That,  with  thankfulness  to  Grod,  we  record  our 
sense  of  the  timeliness  of  the  birth  of  the  Religious  Edu- 
cation Association;  our  joy  in  its  usefulness  revealed 
in  so  many  ways ;  and  our  grateful  surprise  at  the  ex- 
tent and  the  character  of  the  results  wholly  or  partly 
due  to  its  efforts  during  the  five  years  of  its  history. 
The  present  widespread  and  rapidly  growing  interest 
of  religious  and  moral  and  educational  agencies,  in  the 
ideals  for  which  this  association  stands,  is  one  of  the 
most  impressive  and  hopeful  signs  of  our  times.  In 
some  directions  this  progress  has  been  remarkable. 

3.  That,  with  deepened  conviction,  we  reaffirm  the 
statement  of  our  purpose  "to  inspire  the  educational 
forces  of  our  country  with  the  religious  ideal ;  to  inspire 
the  religious  forces  of  our  country  with  the  educational 
ideal ;  and  to  keep  before  the  public  mind  the  ideal  of 


3o6     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

religious  education,   and  the  sense  of  its  need  and 
value." 

4.  In  view  of  the  pressing  need  of  leaders  who  can 
properly  instruct  Sunday-school  teachers  and  others 
in  the  principles  and  methods  of  religious  education, 
we  urge  the  universities  to  provide  in  their  depart- 
ments of  education  for  specific  training  with  reference 
to  such  leadership. 

5.  In  the  task  of  industrial  and  social  reconstruction 
that  is  now  upon  our  civilization,  we  must  rely  for 
competent  leadership  upon  men  and  women  who  are 
not  only  trained  in  the  analysis  of  facts  but  also  in- 
spired with  ethical  idealism.  We  therefore  note  with 
satisfaction  the  growth  in  our  colleges  and  universities 
of  a  sentiment  of  social  service  which  expresses  itself 
in  activities  like  those  of  the  settlement  and  the  vaca- 
tion Bible  schools. 

6.  In  the  educational  work  of  the  local  churches, 
the  pastor  holds  the  key.  The  movement  now  going 
on  to  enlarge  the  place  of  religious  education  in  the 
curricula  of  the  theological  schools  therefore  deserves 
the  support  of  all  the  denominations.  The  theological 
schools  should  not  be  compelled  to  pause  in  this  work 
of  expansion  until  they  are  able  to  assure  the  people 
that  a  theological  diploma  implies  technical  acquaint- 
ance with  both  the  theory  and  the  practice  of  religious 
education. 


THE    RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 
ASSOCIATION 


GENERAL  OFFICERS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1908 

President  —  Francis   Greenwood   Peabody,   D.  D.,   Professor 

Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
First  Vice-President  —  Benjamin  Ide  Wheeler,  Ph.D.,  LL.D., 

President  University  of  California,  Berkeley,  Cal. 
Chairman  Executive  Board  —  Loring  Wilbur  Messer,  General 

Secretary  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Chicago,  111. 
Vice-Chairman  Executive  Board  —  Jesse  A.  Baldwin,  Lawyer, 

Chicago,  111. 
Treasurer  —  Charles  Lawrence  Hutchinson,  Vice-Pres.  Com 

Exchange  National  Bank,  Chicago,  111. 
Recording    Secretary  —  William    Pierson    Merrill,    D.  D., 

Pastor  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago,  111. 
General  Secretary  —  Henry   Frederick  Cope,  Office  of  the 

Association,  153  La  Salle  St.,  Chicago,  111. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 


Charles  P.  Anderson, 

Chicago,  111. 

Henry  M.  Beardsley, 

Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Elmer  E.  Brown, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
James  G.  Cutler, 

Rochester,  N.  Y. 
William  D.  Murray, 

New  York  City 
William  N.  Hartshorn, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Charles  B.  Galloway, 

Jackson,  Miss. 


George  Hodges, 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
Carter  Helm  Jones, 

Lynchburg,  Va. 
James  H.  Kirkland, 

Nashville,  Tenn. 
A.  H.  MacKay, 

HaUfax,  N,  S. 
George  L.  Robinson, 

Chicago.  111. 
Frank  Strong, 

Lawrence,  Kas. 

William  O.  Thompson, 

Columbus,  O. 


The 

David  R.  Forgan, 
Chicago 


EXECUTIVE  BOARD 
Seven     General     Officers,     ex-officio,    and 


Walter  L.  Hbrvey, 

New  York  City 
307 


3o8     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL   CHARACTER 


William  C.  Bitting, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Shailer  Mathews, 

Chicago 
Caroline  Hazard, 

Wellesley,  Mass. 
Abram  W.  Harris, 

Evanston,  111. 
James  Spencer  Dickerson, 

Chicago 
Charles  M.  Stuart, 

Evanston,  111. 
Richard  Cecil  Hughes, 

Ripon,  Wis. 
Edmund  J.  James, 

Urbana,  111. 


William  Fraser  McDowell, 

Chicago 
Frank  Knight  Sanders, 

Boston,  Mass. 
William  Shaw, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Herbert  L.  Willett, 

Chicago 
George  Albert  Cob, 

Evanston,  111. 
Harry  Pratt  Judson, 

Chicago 
William  D.  Mackenzie 

Hartford,  Conn. 


BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS 

Directors  for  Life 

Wm.  H.  p.  Faunce,  William  Fraser  McDowell, 
Providence,  R.  I.  Chicago,  111. 

Henry  Churchill  King  Frank  Knight  Sanders, 
Oberlin,  Ohio  Boston,  Mass. 


Charles  R.  Brown, 
Oakland.  Cal. 

Harington  Beard, 

Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Samuel  A.  Eliot, 

Boston,  Mass. 

Robert  A.  Falconer, 

Toronto,  Ont. 
Fred  S.  Goodman, 

New  York  City 
J.  D.  Hammond, 

Nashville,  Tenn. 
Pascal  Harrower, 

New  York  City 
Charles  F.  Kent, 

New  Haven,  Conn. 
Ira  Landrith, 

Nashville,  Tenn. 


Directors  at  Large 

Mrs.  Andrew  MacLeish, 
Glencoe,  111. 

John  E.  McFadyen, 

Toronto,  Canada 

Wallace  McMullen, 
New  York  City 

Walter  Miller, 

New  Orleans,  La. 

Samuel  C.  Mitchell, 

Richmond,  Va. 

Charles  W.  Needham, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
George  B.  Stewart, 

Auburn,  N.  Y. 
Floyd  W.  Tomkins, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Charles  R.  VanHise, 

Madison,  Wis. 


State  Directors 
California  —  William  H.  Day,  Los  Angeles 
Connecticut  —  Franklin  D.  Elmer,  Winsted 
Dist.  of  Col. —  Samuel  H.  Woodrow,  Washington 
Illinois  —  Herbert  W.  Gates,  Chicago 


OFFICERS   OF  THE   ASSOCIATION         309 

Indiana  —  Calvin  N.  Kendall,  Indianapolis 
Iowa  —  Frank  W.  Hodgdon,  Des  Moines 
Kansas  —  L.  H.  Murlin,  Baldwin 
Maine  —  Alfred  W.  Anthony,  Lewiston 
Massachusetts  —  Appleton  Park  Williams,  Boston 
Michigan  —  Fred  Merrifield,  Ann  Arbor 
Missouri  —  James  P.  O'Brien,  Kansas  City 
New  Hampshire  —  Herman  H.  Horne,  Hanover 
New  Jersey  —  Wm.  H.  Boocock,  Bayonne 
New  York  —  Ismar  J.  Peritz,  Syracuse 
Ohio  —  Herbert  Welch,  Delaware 
Oregon  —  James  Edmunds,  McMinnville 
Pennsylvania  —  Joseph  Swain,  Swarthmore 
Rhode  Island  —  Lester  Bradner,  Providence 
Tennessee  —  B.  L.  Wiggins,  Sewanee 
Texas  —  J.  S.  Barcus,  Georgetown 
Vermont  —  C.  P.  Howland,  St.  Johnsbury 
Washington  —  S.  B.  L.  Penrose,  Walla  Walla 
Wisconsin  —  James  Mutch,  Ripon 
Ontario  —  R.  Douglas  Fraser,  Toronto 


THE  DEPARTMENTS 
The  Council  of  Religious  Education 

George  A.  Coe,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  Northwestern  University, 
Evanston,  111. 

L.  L.  Doggett,  Ph.  D.,  Pres.  International  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Training 
School,  Springfield,  Mass. 

Clyde  W.  Votaw,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  University  of  Chicago, 
Chicago,  111. 

Universities  and  Colleges 

Francis  W.  Kelsey,  Professor  University  of  Michigan,  Ann 
Arbor,  Mich. 

Blanche  Zehring,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  Wells  College,  Aurora,  N.  Y. 

Wallace  N.  Steams,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  Wesley  College,  Grand 
Forks,  N.  D. 

Theological  Seminaries 

Frank  C.  Porter,  D.  D.,  Professor  Yale  Divinity  School,  New 
Haven,  Conn. 

Charles  M.  Stuart,  D.  D.,  Professor  Garrett  Biblical  Institute, 
Evanston,  111. 

Shailer  Mathews,  D.  D.,  Dean  Divinity  School,  University  of 
Chicago,  Chicago,  111. 


3IO     EDUCATION  AND   NATIONAL  CHARACTER 

Churches  and  Pastors 

Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  D.  D.,  Rector  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

George  A.  Swertfager,  Pastor  Congregational  Church,  Princeton, 
Minn. 

Wm.  P.  Merrill,  D.  D.,  Pastor  Sixth  Presbyterian  Church, 
Chicago,  111. 

Sunday  Schools 

George  B.  Stewart,  LL.  D.,  Pres.  Auburn  Theological  Seminary, 
Auburn,  N.  Y. 

E.  Morris  Fergusson,  A.  M.,  Secretary  N.  J.  S.  S.  Ass'n.,  Newark, 
N.J. 

J.  Richard  Street,  Ph.  D.,  Dean  Teachers'  College,  Syracuse 
University,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Secondary  Schools 

Nathaniel  Butler,  LL.  D.,  Dean  College  of  Education,  University 
of  Chicago,  Chicago,  lU. 

George  E.  Myers,  Principal  McKinley  School,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Elementary  Public  Schools 

William  C.  Bagley,  Ph.  D.,  Professor,  University  of  Illinois, 
Urbana,  111. 

Rose  C.  Swart,  A.  M.,  Supervisor  of  Practice,  State  Normal, 
Oshkosh,  Wis. 

Fraternal  and  Social  Service 

Rufus  M.  Jones,  Litt.  D.,  Professor  Haverford  College,  Haver- 
ford,  Pa. 

Joseph  B.  Burtt,  Attorney  at  law,  Chicago,  111. 

Walter  M.  Wood,  A.  M.,  Associate  Secretary,  Central  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
Philadelphia. 

Teacher  Training 

Frank  K.  Sanders,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D.,  President  Washburn  College, 
Topeka,  Kansas. 

Lester  Bradner,  Ph.  D.,  Rector  St.  John's  Episcopal  Chvurch, 
Providence,  R.  I. 

Mrs.  J.  Woodbridge  Barnes,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Christian  Associations 

L.  L.  Doggett,  Ph.  D.,  Pres.  Intem'l  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Training  School, 
Springfield,  Mass. 

Henry  E.  Rosevear,  Ass't.  Secretary  Presbyterian  Brotherhood, 
Chicago. 

George  J.  Fisher,  M.  D.,  Secretary  Intem'l  Committee,  New 
York,  N.  Y. 


OFFICERS   OF  THE   ASSOCIATION  311 

Young  People' 5  Societies 

Emma  A.  Robinson,  Gen.  Sec.  Junior  Ep.  League  of  M.  E. 
Church,  Chicago,  111. 

Amos  R.  Wells,  A.  M.,  Editor  "Christian  Endeavor  World," 
Boston,  Mass. 

Harrie  R.  Chamberlin,  Pastor  First  Baptist  Church,  Morgan- 
town,  W.  Va. 

The  Home 

Mrs.  Andrew  MacLeish,  Glencoe,  111. 

Mrs.  Emily  Huntington  Miller,  Englewood,  N.  J. 

Frank  N.  Miner,  Chicago,  111. 

Libraries 

Azariah  Root,  M.  A.,  Librarian  Oberlin  College,  Oberlin,  Ohio. 
Elizabeth  Abbott,  Librarian  City  Library,  Grand  Forks,  N.  D. 

Religious  Art  and  Music 

Lester  Bartlett  Jones,  M.A.,  Director  Music,  University  of 
Chicago,  Chicago,  111. 

Harington  Beard,  Beard  Studios,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Rev.  Edward  C.  Kunkle,  Pastor  First  Baptist  Church,  Scott- 
dale,  Pa. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  Present  Moral  Awakening,  27 
Adult  Bible  Class  Movement,  278 
Americans,  New,  Moral  Training  of,  no 

Annual  Survey  of  Progress  in  Moral  and  Religious  Education, 
George  Hodges,  266 

B 

Barnes,  Charles  A.,  Fraternal  Orders,  293 
Bible  and  the  Public  School,  168 

"     Spirit  of,  in  History,  155 

"     School  Exhibit,  281 

"     Immoral  Teachings  in,  124 
Biblical  Material,  Teachers'  Use  of,  125 

Boys,  Curriculum  for,  in  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  251 
Body,  the,  and  Religious  Education,  104 
Bringing  Moral  and  Religious  Forces  into  Educational  Unity,  W. 

Gladden,  33 
Brotherhood,  Movement,  the  Ideal  of,  50 
Burtt,  Joseph  B,  Fraternal  Education,  297 

C 

Capitalism  and  Moral  Rights,  32 
Character  Aim  in  Education,  222 

"  "      "  Public  Education,  267 

Child  Development,  Study  of,  for  Pastor,  243 
Christ  as  the  Ideal  Life,  46 
Church,  the,  as  an  Educational  Institution,  37 
Churches  and  Fraternities  in  Moral  Education,  298 
Church  Instruction  and  School  Instruction  in  Germany,  204 
Citizenship,  Christian,  Education  for,  150 
Civil  Government  as  a  Moral  Agency,  35 
Civics,  Teaching  Religion  Through,  223 
Coe,  George  A.,  Religious  Education  Association  and  the  Life  of 

the  Nation,  90 
Coe,  George  A.,  Religious  Psychology  in  Theological  Curriculum, 

240 

312 


INDEX  313 

Coleman,  George  W.,  Education  Through  Social  Service,  9a 
College  Men  and  the  Ministry,  244 

"       Service  in  ReUgion  for  the  Community,  277 
Commission  on  Methods  of  Moral  Instruction,  183 
Community  Hygiene,  105 

"  Service  in  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  107 

Cope,  Henry  F.,  How  Can  Religion  Discharge  its  Function  in  the 

Public  Schools,  220 
Courses  of  Study  for  Boys  and  Young  Men,  251,  258 
Curriculum  for  Boys  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 

Clyde  W.  Votaw,  251 

D 

Democracy  and  Christian  Citizenship,  152 
Denominations  and  the  State  Universities,  145 
Departments  of  Religious  Education  Association,  309 

£ 

Education  for  Christian  Citizenship,  Jesse  H.  Holmes,  150 
"  for  Social  Life,  43 

"  Moral,  of  the  American  Nation,  in  History,  28 

"  Through  Social  Service,  George  W.  Coleman,  92 

Educational  Unity  of  ReUgious  Forces,  33 

Elmer,  Franklin  D.,  Annual  Survey  of  the  Sunday  School,  278 

Enlarging  Ideals  in  Morals  and  Religion,  Henry  C.  King,  7 

Ethics,  Teaching  of,  in  Public  Schools,  216 

Ethical  Aspect  of  the  Social  Question,  22 
"        IdeaUsm,  need  of,  23 

Evans,  Milton  G.,  Social  Service  of  College  Students,  84 

Evolution,  Moral  Significance  of,  10 

F 

Fairchild,  Milton,  Illustrated  Moral  Instruction,  213 

Family  Life,  Waning  of,  76 

Fifth  General  Convention  of  Religious  Education  Association,  303 

Fisher,  George  J.,  Christian  Aspects  of  Personal  and  Community 

Hygiene,  99 
Foreign  Immigrants  and  ReUgious  Prejudice,  58 
Formation  of  Moral  Ideals  in  the  University,  118 
France,  Moral  Instruction  in  Public  Schools,  185 

"       Results  of  Moral  Instruction  in  PubUc  Schools,  193 
Fraternal  Education,  Joseph  B.  Burtt,  297 

♦'         Orders  and  Moral  Education,  Charles  A.  Barnes,  293 
Freedom  in  America,  62 


314  INDEX 


Gambling  and  Moral  Education,  30 

Germany,  Teaching  of  Religion  and  Morals  in  Secondary  Schools, 

197 
Gladden,  Washington,  Effective  Educational  Unity,  33 
God,  Knowledge  of,  in  Education,  150 
Graded  Sunday  School,  Lessons  for,  271 
Gries,  Rabbi  Morris,  Abraham  Lincoln,  60 

H 

Hygiene  and  Health,  Course  in,  109 
Higher  Education,  Development  of,  130 

"  "  and  the  Social  Movement,  22 

History,  Teaching  Religion  Through,  224 
Hodges,  George,  Annual  Survey  of  Progress,  266 
Holmes,  Jesse  H.,  Education  for  Christian  Citizenship,  150 
How  Can  ReUgion  Discharge  its  Function  in  the  Public  Schools,  220 


Ideals,  Religious  and  Moral,  and  the  University,  118 
Illustrated  Moral  Instruction,  Milton  Fairchild,  213 
Immigrants,  Moral  Training  of,  no 
Individual,  Education  of,  for  Social  Service,  43 
Industry  and  Religious  Ideals,  31 
Industrial  Revolution  and  Social  Changes,  76 
Institutional  Church  and  Social  Education,  78 

"  Settlements,  80 

International  Sunday  School  Association  and  Graded  Lessons,  271 


Japan,  Methods  of  Moral  Training  in,  172 

Jew,  Prejudice  against,  53 

Jones,  Rufus  M.,  Religious  Education  of  the  Individual  for  Social 

Life,  43 
Juvenile  Crime  and  Education,  368 

K 

Kaneko,  Baron,  on  Moral  Training,  174 
King,  Henry  Churchill,  President's  Annual  Address,  7 
Kindergarten  and  Immigrants,  in 

Kelsey,  Francis  W.,  The  Problem  of  Religious  Instruction  in  Uni- 
versities, 128 


INDEX  315 

L 

Labor  Camp  Schools  and  Immigrants,  112 
Leaders,  Religious,  Decreasing  Supply  of,  266 
"Lehrplan"  as  to  Religious  Instruction,  198 
Life  of  the  Nation  and  Religious  Education,  90 
Lincoln  and  the  Moral  Life  of  the  Nation,  60 
Literature,  Teaching  Religion  Through,  225 
"  Need  of  Religious,  46 

M 

Machinery,  Introduction  of  and  Family  Life,  76 

Manual  Methods  for  the  Sunday  School,  285 

Mathematics,  Teaching  Religion  Through,  226 

Mathews,  Shailer,  Why  College  Men  do  not  go  into  the  Ministr) 

244 
Mead,  George  Whitfield,  Sunday  School  as  a  Social  Force,  287 
Means,  Frederick  H.,  Moral  Training  of  New  Americans,  no 
Ministers,  Training  of  Negroes  for  Pastors,  157 
Ministry,  Need  of  Experts  in,  242 

"         Why  College  Men  do  not  go  into,  244 
Minutes  of  the  Fifth  General  Convention  of  the  Religious  Educa- 

cation  Association,  303 
Moral  Agencies  of  Community,  34 

"      Awakening  in  the  Nation,  Lyman  Abbott,  27 

"      Education  Board,  218 

'•  "  by  Fraternal  Orders,  293 

"      Instruction  by  Illustrated  Lectures,  213 

"  "  in    the    Public    Schools  of  France,  George  E. 

Myers,  185 
Moral  Teaching  by  Pastor,  234 

"      Significance  of  Social  Movement,  21 

"      Training  of  New  Americans,  no 

"  "         through  Patriotism,  Chas.  W.  Williams,  171 

Myers,   George  E.,   Moral   Instruction  in   the  Public   Schools  of 

France,  185 

N 

Nation  as  Social  Unit  in  Education,  178 

"         Moral  Education  of,  28 
National  Education  Association  on  Religious  Education,  168 
Night  Schools  and  Immigrants,  112 

o 

Officers  of  Religious  Education  Association,  1908,  307 
Old  Testament  in  German  Secondary  Schools,  206 


3i6  INDEX 


Pastor,  as  a  Teacher,  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  231 

Pastor's  Training  in  Religious  Psychology,  241 

Pastors,  Training  of  Negroes  for,  157 

Patten,  Amos  W.,  Teaching  of  Religion  in  German  Schools,  197 

Pathological  Conditions  and  Religious  Life,  102 

Patriotism  and  Moral  Training,  171 

Paulsen,  Prof.,  Quoted  on  German  Religious  Instruction,  207 

Peabody,  Francis  G.,  The  Universities  and  Social  Conscience,  15 

Peritz,  Ismar  J.,  University,  Formation  of  Moral  Ideals,  u8 

Personal  and  Community  Hygiene,  99 

Philipson,  Rabbi  David,  Educating  from  Race  Prejudice,  49 

Photographic  Records  of  Conduct,  218 

Physical  Duties  Taught  by  Pastor,  236 
"         Conditions  of  Religious  Life,  100 

Psychology,  Teaching  Religion  Through,  224 

President's  Annual  Address,  7 

Prophetic  Ideals,  121 

Progress  in  Religious  and  Moral  Education,  Annual  Survey,  266 
"   the  Sunday  School,  F.  D.  Elmer,  278 

Prejudice,  Educating  from  Race  and  ReUgion,  49 

Prussia,  Religious  Instruction  in,  199 

Psychology,  ReUgious,  in  Theological  Curriculum,  24 

Public  School  Education  and  Religion,  166 

"  "       Curriculum  and  Religious  Teaching,  222 

"  "       Function  of  ReUgion  in,  Henry  F.  Cope,  220 

"  "       Methods  in  Morals,  Commission  on,  183 

"  "        and  the  Immigrants,  iii 

Public  Schools  and  the  Christian  Religion,  266 
"  "        Teaching  of  Patriotism  in,  1 76 

"  "       Religious  Instruction  in,  166 

"  "       of  France,  Moral  Instruction  in,  185 

"  "in  Germany,  Moral  Teaching,  197 

R 

Race  Prejudice,  Educating  Youth  Away  from,  49 
"Rescript  of  1890,"  173 
Religion  as  the  Ideal  of  Life,  1 70 

"        as  a  Social  Force,  66 

"         Defined,  166,  220 

"        in  Public  School  Education,  Clyde  W.  Votaw,  166 

"        in  State  Universities,  136 

"        Need  in  National  Life,  8 

"        Teaching  of  in  German  Schools,  197 


INDEX  317 

Religionsunterricht,  Changes  in  Plans  of,  197,  210 
Religious  Consecration  and  Social  Service,  26 

"         Education  Association  and  National  Life,  90 

"  "  "  Minutes  of  Fifth  General  Conven- 

vention,  303 

"         Education  Association,  General  Officers,  1908,  307 

"         Education  of  Boys  and  Young  Men,  251 

'*         Function  of,  in  Public  Schools,  220 

"         Instruction  in  the  Week-day,  269 

"         Leadership  in  Social  Betterment,  66 


School  Organization  and  Religious  Education,  227 
Secondary   Schools  of  Germany,  Religious  Instruction  in,  197 
Secret  Societies  and  Moral  Education,  293 
Sanitary  Science  and  Morals,  106 
Self-activity  in  Public  Schools,  229 
Settlement  and  Neighborhood  Houses,  79 

"  Work  and  Religious  Education,  75 

Sin  and  Physical  Ills,  10 1 

Social  Betterment,  Religious  Leadership  in,  66 
Conscience  and  Universities,  15 
Duties  Taught  by  Pastor,  238 
Forces,  Direction  of,  18 
Forces,  Need  of  Leadership  for,  70 
Forces  of  the  Sunday  School,  287 
Forces,  Religious  Character  of,  68 
Justice,  Need  of  Education  in,  39 
Life,  Religious  Education  of  Individual  for,  43 
Responsibility,  17 
Schools  in  New  York  City,  81 
Service  of  College  Students,  for  Children,  84 
"        Education  through,  92 
"       Need  of  Education  in,  47 
"       Professional  Training  for,  24 
"       in  the  Sunday  School,  288 
"       Training  of  Leaders  in,  19 
"       and  Young  People,  93 
Settlements  and  Religious  Education,  E.  Stagg  Whitin,  75 
Studies  in  Sunday  School,  290 
Sports  and  Play,  Lectures  on,  219 

"     Playground,  Moral  Training  through,  228 
State  Universities  charged  with  "Godlessness,"  136 
State  University,  Development  of,  129 
"  "         its  Proper  Function,  139 


3i8  INDEX 

State  University,  Religious  Instruction  in,  141 

Stewart,  George  B.,  Religious  Leadership  in  Social  Betterment,  66 

Students*  Christian  Associations,  143 

Students,  College,  and  their  Social  Service,  85  and  89 

Sunday  School,  Annual  Survey  of  Progress,  278 

"  "       and  Day  School  Methods,  282 

*'  "       and  the  Pastor,  231  . 

"  "       as  a  Social  Force,  George  Whitfield  Mead,  287 

"  "      Development  of,  279 

"  "       Equipment  of,  280 

"  "       Instruction,  Present  Character  of,  270 

"  "      EvangeUstic  Opportunity  of,  286 


Teaching  Function  of  Pastor,  231 

Teacher-Training  for  Sunday  Schools,  283 

Theological  Curriculum  and  Religious  Psycholog^y  and  Education, 

240 
Theology,  Schools  of,  and  State  Universities,  147 
Theological  Seminaries,  Department  of.  Investigation,  244 
Thirkield,  Wilbur  P.,  The  Training  of  Ministers  and  Physicians  for 

the  Negro  Race,  157 
Tomkins,  Floyd  W.,  Pastor  as  a  Teacher,  331 
Training  of  Ministers  and  Physicians  for  Negro  Race,  Wilbur  P. 

Thirkield,  157 
Tuberculosis  in  the  Negro  Race,  158 

u 

Universities  and  the  Social  Conscience,  15 

Universities,  Problems  of  Religious   Instruction  in,   Francis  W. 

Kelsey,  128 
University,  Formation  of  Moral  Ideals,  Ismar  J.  Peritz,  118 

"  Studies  and  Moral  Ideals,  119 

"  Training  and  Social  Progress,  24 


Vacation  Bible  Schools,  84,  114,  274 

Votaw,  Clyde  W.,  Religion  in  Public  School  Education,  166 

W 

Welfare  Work  for  Foreigners,  116 

Whitin,  E.  Stagg,  Social  Settlement  and  Religious  Education,  75 


INDEX  319 

Will  of  God  and  the  Present  Age,  9 

Williams,  Charles  W.,  Moral  Training  Through  Patriotism,  171 

World  as  Object  of  Redemption,  16 


Young  Men  and  Boys,  Curriculum  for,  251 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Physical  Training  in,  99 
"  "  "  "  Curriculum  for  Boys,  253 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  865  254     7 


SO 


If  ET 

m 

■ii 

m 

i 

1 
i 

.'J  ■ 

!  ! 


ill 

iiiii 


!!:)](■ 


^m 


W  !  :iil 


i'lS'Mli  ^MiiiMnijiiiif 


Mi.tlllilii: 
>!i!!ilii!nijl!ltl 


